Anhui was originally part of Nanzhili, and became an independent province in the sixth year of Kangxi in history, and the name of the province was formed by the merger of the initials of Anqing and Huizhou, and has been used until modern times.

It can be seen that Anqing Mansion and Huizhou Mansion are the two most important cities in Anhui, and Fengyang is the hometown of Zhu Yuanzhang, so its status is also relatively special, and it is designated as the central capital of the Ming Dynasty. In contrast, Hefei, the provincial capital in later generations, was just an inconspicuous little brother, a very ordinary prefecture.

After the Manchu occupation of Anhui, Fengyang was naturally marginalized, but the status of Anqing and Huizhou increased.

In later generations, the economy tended to be globalized, and the coastal areas were more developed, but in this era, inland river transportation was more important, and where it was next to the Yangtze River or the Grand Canal, the development of the place was relatively fast. Anqing Mansion is an important town along the Yangtze River and the largest city in Anhui, so its importance is self-evident.

From a military point of view, Anqing Mansion has irreplaceable strategic significance.

Open a topographic map of China, you can see that there is a very obvious natural barrier between the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Dabie Mountains north of the Yangtze River, the Yellow Mountain, Tianmu Mountain and other mountainous areas in southern Anhui to the south of the Yangtze River, like two gates on the left and one on the right, separating Central China and East China, and separating the Jiangxi Basin and the Yangtze River Delta...... There is a corridor between the two gates, that is, between the Dabie Mountains and the mountains of southern Anhui, from which the Yangtze River flows, connecting Chu, Wu and Yue together, and Anqing Mansion is located in the center of this corridor, like a lock hanging on the gate.

Dabie Mountain is the dividing line between Henan, Hubei and Anhui, and is a famous old revolutionary area. After Liu Deng's army advanced into Dabie Mountain, it deterred the entire Central and East China regions and seized the strategic initiative in the country. The mountainous area of southern Anhui is also a famous old revolutionary area. The base camp of the New Fourth Army, where the famous Southern Anhui Incident took place...... Most of the old revolutionary base areas are mountainous areas with mountains and mountains, and it is difficult to ensure the logistical transportation of large troops with ancient transportation conditions, so if you want to attack from Huguang and Jiangxi to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, you generally have to make use of the waterway of the Yangtze River and take the corridor between the Dabie Mountains and the mountainous areas of southern Anhui. Anqing is just stuck at the throat of the corridor area, so it has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times.

In other words, Anqing is the gateway to Nanjing. From here, along the Yangtze River to the northeast, there is a vast eastern plain area, a flat river, no danger to defend...... In the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement two hundred years later. The Taiping army and the Hunan army fought a general decisive battle in Anqing Province. And the Hunan army conquered Anqing, the shape of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom deteriorated sharply, and Tianjing (Nanjing) soon fell, and there is a saying that "the country lost in World War I".

Huizhou Mansion is also important, but it is different from Anqing Mansion.

Huizhou Mansion is located south of the Yangtze River, southeast of Anqing Mansion, next to Jingdezhen, in the southernmost part of Anhui. Huizhou was renamed Huangshan City in later generations. It gives the impression of being an economically underdeveloped tourist city, but in fact it is not wealthy...... But in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Huizhou is the origin of the famous Huizhou merchants, which can be called the rich in the world.

The entire Huizhou Prefecture belongs to the mountainous area of southern Anhui, "six mountains, three rivers and one field", which is still a barren mountainous red soil, and the locals are forced to do business for their livelihoods. At first, the Hui merchants mainly engaged in the industries of mountain goods, timber, tea, silk and pawnbroking, but after intervening in the lucrative salt industry in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the Hui merchants quickly rose to become a large merchant gang that could be compared with the Jin merchants, and occupied a pivotal position in social and economic life.

The Qing army went south, and Yangzhou and other places where the Hui merchants gathered were looted and plundered, and the Hui merchants were also greatly damaged. However, the Manchu rulers soon discovered that in order to rule China for a long time and even realize their dream of "indefatigable inheritance", it was certainly not enough to burn, kill, loot and become robbers, but also to establish a basic economic order and improve the maladministration of the Ming Dynasty...... However, they were originally robbers and could not handle such a complex economic management work, so they began to look for agents among the Han people, and the famous Hui merchants became the first choice to win over.

Soon after the Manchu Qing Dynasty occupied Nanjing, they reformed the salt monopoly system and handed over this piece of fat meat to the Hui merchants, who thus ushered in the second spring, and the development momentum was so fierce that even the old traitor merchant group Jin Shang could not compare. (The Hui merchants reached their peak during the Kang Yongqian period, and it is said that the total assets were several times that of the Manchu treasury, and later the Manchu Qing Dynasty reformed the salt industry system, and the Hui merchants declined rapidly, and they had disappeared by the Republic of China period, leaving only some residual memories of the red-capped merchants Hu Xueyan and Zhang Xiaoquan scissors.) ）

In the heyday of the Ming Dynasty, the salt tax silver levied from Lianghuai was about 700,000 taels a year, but it rose to more than 1.8 million taels in the Shunzhi period, and these silver continued to become swords, guns, armor and military salaries and rations, supporting the Qing army to eliminate the Southern Ming Dynasty step by step and unify China.

Not only that, but Hui merchants also actively demanded "progress" in politics. After the Manchu Qing Dynasty opened the imperial examination in Jiangnan, scholars and scholars in other places were ashamed to participate in the Manchu imperial examination, but the Hui merchants were eager to let the next generation get rid of the identity of merchants, "from Jia to Confucianism", "Confucianism into Shi", full of enthusiasm for the Manchu imperial examination...... In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, there were as many as 54 academies in Huizhou Prefecture, and there were many distributions in other large cities where Huizhou merchants were more, such as Yangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Anqing, etc., in the history of the Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years, there were 296 Jinshi in Huizhou Prefecture alone, nearly 1,000 people.

It cannot be denied that there were many patriots among the Hui merchants in the late Qing Dynasty, represented by Hu Xueyan, who contributed to the fight against the aggression of the Western powers, but in the early Qing Dynasty, the entire Hui merchant group threw themselves into the arms of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and was an out-and-out traitor group!

They have played a role more than even an army......

Anqing and Huizhou are both located in the southern part of Anhui, but the two provinces do not border, and there is a Chizhou Mansion in between. To put it simply, Anqing Mansion is in the corridor north of the Yangtze River, Chizhou Mansion is in the corridor area south of the Yangtze River, and Huizhou Mansion is in the mountainous area to the east of the corridor...... These three state capitals all bordered Jiangxi, and as the Ming army advanced step by step, it had become the front line, and the Qing army was heavily defended.

Although Tan Tai went to Zhejiang, he left his most trusted general, Tun Buer, to garrison the Anqing Corridor, and his more than 10,000 Qing troops were distributed in the south of Anqing and Chizhou Mansions.

The defense of the Huizhou Mansion was taken care of by the Manchu Jiangnan Province, and the Jiangnan Governor Ma Guozhu sent Li Chengdong to garrison the Huizhou Mansion, with 5,000 elite green battalions under his command. In addition, at the back of the Anqing Corridor, Guichi, the capital of Chizhou Prefecture, is guarded by Xiong Lichun.

In April of the fifth year of Longwu, Tan Tai led the main force of the Qing army to Quzhou Mansion in southern Zhejiang, and fought fierce battles with the Tongcheng Camp and Zhenxiao Camp of the Chu Army, as well as the troops of Zhao Yinxuan and Hu Yiqing.

Wang Kefan immediately launched an attack on Nanzhili.

The Chu army was divided into three routes and marched at the same time.

The Ji'an battalion on the west road attacked Pengze and Hukou counties, led by Wang Ding and Gu Zongfu, Pengze and Hukou counties are both south of the Yangtze River, which actually belong to Jiangxi, but because they are on the bank of the Yangtze River, they now belong to the territory of the Qing army.

The Qing army had heavy troops in Pengze and Hukou counties, and there was also a large naval battalion in Xiaogushan in Pengze, which could enter the hinterland of Jiangxi from Poyang Hukou at any time and threaten the rear of the Chu army. The Ji'an battalion attacked Pengze and Hukou counties in order to pull out this nasty nail and occupy a large wharf on the south bank of the Yangtze River, ready to cross the river into Anhui and threaten Anqing, which is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

The Puqi battalion on the eastern road attacked the western part of Huizhou Prefecture, led by Lu Renqing, and the first target was Qimen County, which was located at the western foot of Huangshan Mountain, and was not in a hurry to attack Fucheng She County, which was located in the eastern part of Huizhou Prefecture...... If the Anqing Corridor is compared to the gate into Nanzhili, the mountainous area of southern Anhui is the door to the east, as long as the Puqi battalion occupies Qimen County, it will kick open this door, and the Ming army can drive straight along the Anqing Corridor, but Li Chengdong of She County cannot cut off the supply line of the Ming army, or support Anqing and Chizhou Mansion.

In a nutshell, Huizhou Mansion is easy to defend and difficult to attack, Li Chengdong is a fierce general, and it is difficult for Lu Renqing's Puqi battalion to eat him in one bite, as long as Qimen County is taken and the flank of the main force of the Chu army is safe, the task will be completed.

The Gongyi battalion on the middle road was personally led by Wang Kefan and entered Chizhou Mansion along the corridor on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Yongfeng Town, sixty miles to the north is the Yangtze River, and we have entered Nanzhili."

As Wang Kefan pointed out with the whip, the soldiers of the three armies broke out into a burst of cheers, Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi and others were even more excited, looking at the fields and roads in front of them with complicated expressions, speechless for a long time.

Being able to set foot on this land again, and wearing the clothes of the Han family openly, and fighting back with thousands of Chu soldiers to recover their homeland, this kind of scene has appeared in their dreams countless times, and today it has finally become a reality!

Jiangnan is not only their hometown, Nanzhili is also one of the most important provinces of the Ming Dynasty, which has a very special significance, and being able to launch a counteroffensive against Nanzhili means that the strategic shape has improved significantly, and the Ming Dynasty is really hopeful of recovering the country!

A few days ago, Huang Zongxi stayed in Guilin for two months, and the Longwu court solicited him several times, and the old relatives and friends of the Donglin Party also repeatedly persuaded and agitated, wanting him to seek an official position in the Longwu court and break off with Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu...... The Longwu Imperial Court is now so prosperous, this was originally a natural choice, but Huang Zongxi unexpectedly refused.

After returning to his hometown to live in seclusion, Huang Zongxi was no longer an official of King Lu's regime, but he was disconnected, and he still had some connections in private. is obviously alone and has nothing to worry about, but he is unwilling to join the Longwu regime, and his old friends of the Donglin Party do not understand.

Huang Zongxi did not explain the reason to anyone, and after saying goodbye to everyone, he drifted away, and a month ago, he came to Wang Kefan's army. (To be continued......)