"Shiqian Mansion will fight sooner or later, but now is not the time."

Yuan Zongdi said with a smile: "We have just arrived, and the western thieves are unprepared, if we don't take this opportunity to get more benefits, we won't have a chance in the future." ”

In these five prefectures on the north bank of the Qingshui River, the total strength of the Western Army is as high as 16,700 people, although it is now scattered in various prefectures and counties, and it is easy to be broken by each one, but if Yuan Zongdi is in a hurry to attack the remote and mountainous Shiqian Mansion, he will give the other party enough time to react, and the Western Army will inevitably draw troops from all over the country to form a large army to fight against the Chu army, and Yuan Zongdi will fall into passivity.

Since the Western Army is scattered, Yuan Zongdi led the army to continue northward and attack the Sizhou Mansion in the "dog's mouth" position, and at the same time sent people to inform Tan Xiao, Zhou Guodong and Liu Tichun, telling them that the "dog head" has more meat and fewer bones, and he wants to stay here for a full meal and be separated from the main force for a period of time.

Tan Xiao and others quickly sent 5,000 men and horses to support Yuan Zongdi, because of the lack of intelligence, the Chu army only had a general strategic plan before advancing into Guizhou, and the specific tactical plan had to be adaptable, since Yuan Zongdi had fighters here, Tan Xiao and others of course had to cooperate vigorously, in fact, the "dog head" headed by Tongren was next to the central part of Huguang, and Sun Kewang's army entered Hunan from here, and the location was very important. You can also get in touch with Jie Chongxi in southern Sichuan and find a base for the lone Western Expeditionary Army.

After receiving 5,000 reinforcements, Yuan Zongdi's troops suddenly doubled, and he no longer had any scruples, not only launched a fierce attack on Sizhou Mansion, but also adopted frog jumping tactics, personally led a section through the boundary of Sizhou Mansion, and directly attacked Tongren Mansion.

Tongren Mansion is roughly in the position of "dog eye" and "dog nose", belongs to the Wuling Mountains, the territory of Sinan Mansion and Shiqian Mansion in the west, is the galloping Wujiang River, Yuan Zongdi fought and walked, attacked Tongren Mansion City and turned to attack Jiangkou County, Jiangkou and did not gram, so he rushed to attack Tixi Division, and suddenly killed a horse gun near Tixi Division, defeated more than 3,000 people of the Western Army who rushed from Tongren and Jiangkou to support Tixi Division, and then attacked Sinan Mansion to the west, swept the east bank of Wujiang River, turned a big circle counterclockwise, and finally returned to Sizhou Mansion from Shiqian Mansion, and after converging with the main force, a general attack was launched, and finally the capital city of Sizhou was conquered.

Yuan Zong's first road "burned, killed and looted", not only wiped out thousands of Western troops, but also severely damaged the various states and counties along the way, burned what could be burned, smashed what could be smashed, filled up the river, blew up the mountain and closed the road, originally from Tongren into Hunan is also a supply line for the Western Army, but the road conditions in the mountainous area are not good, the transportation capacity is limited, and then after being destroyed by Yuan Zong's first pass, this road is basically abandoned, and it is not only huge to repair, but it will waste at least a few months of time.

At the same time, Tan Xiao, Zhou Guodong and Liu Tichun led the main force of the Western Expeditionary Army and came to Kaili in the upper reaches of the Qingshui River by boat.

Tens of thousands of soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army lined up under the city of Kaili, and before they began to attack the city, the defenders of Kaili abandoned the city and fled, but they were a little more disciplined than Shi Bing's defenders, and put a fire in the warehouse when they left, although the Chu army tried their best to put out the fire after entering the city, most of the military supplies were still turned into coke, fortunately, Kaili was the distribution center of the Qingshui River grain road, and one warehouse after another was filled with grain materials, although the Chu army only grabbed a small part, the number was still a lot, and it really made a small fortune.

Kaili was lost, Duyun was wide open, Guiyang was also threatened, and the whole Guizhou was shaken.

At this time, the Western Army woke up like a dream, and realized that there was a huge Chu army that had entered Guizhou, no matter where they came from, the facts were in front of them, and rumors spread in Guiyang and Duyun for a while, all saying that Sun Kewang had fought a big defeat in Huguang and had been wiped out, and the Chu army took advantage of the victory to counterattack, so it was easy to enter Guizhou.

All of them are in a hurry.

Guiyang is in an emergency.

The whole of Guizhou is in an emergency.

The Western Army stationed in Guizhou initially found that the Chu army that entered Guizhou had tens of thousands of horses, including Tan Xiao, Zhou Guodong, Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun and other main forces.

Urgent documents flew in all directions, Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan...... Huguang, in particular, has received a large number of reports for help, and bad news comes every day, and there are constantly state and county guards who are missing.

The soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army occupied Kaili bloodlessly, and the soldiers of the Western Expeditionary Army sat on the boat for several days, and they were originally holding back enough strength to fight a big battle, but in the end they did not get a fight, and they all shouted to continue to march into the army, Tan Xiao and others immediately divided their troops, Liu Tichun led his troops to attack Guiding and Fuquan, and threatened the provincial capital Guiyang from the east, Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong led the main force to the south along the Qingshui River and attacked Duyunfu City. (At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were no two cities of Guiding and Fuquan, and when you check the map, you can generally find it under the rule of Pingyuewei and Lepingsi, and the names are obscure, which is easy to bring dyslexia, so it is directly called Guiding and Fuquan.) ）

A ship full of Chu soldiers appeared under the city of Duyun, and Lu Bosheng, the prefect of Duyun, immediately opened the door to offer the city.

Lu Bosheng served as a magistrate in Guizhou during the Chongzhen period, starting from the Qipin County Order, and was promoted to the Wupin Prefect step by step, when the Longwu Imperial Court controlled Guizhou, Lu Bosheng served as the Duyun Prefect, and later the Western Army established himself as the king and broke away from the Longwu Imperial Court, Lu Bosheng continued to stay in the Duyun Prefect, and now since the Chu Army has called, Lu Bosheng did not hesitate to surrender the city, and did not feel that there was anything wrong with changing the court so repeatedly.

They were all officials in the Ming Dynasty, and they did not surrender to the Manchu Tartars, Lu Bosheng served as a magistrate for a long time, and he just wanted to maintain the peace of this side, and tens of thousands of horsemen and soldiers of the Chu army came to the city, and it was meaningless to continue to resist with eggs and stones.

"Talent!"

Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong were full of praise for him, there were still more than 2,000 defenders in Duyun City, Lu Bosheng was just a civilian official, but he was able to control this army that did not belong to him, surrendered the city smoothly, and handed over the grain and materials in the warehouse to the Chu army completely, which shows that this person is very talented, no wonder no matter how the banner of the city changes, he can be his prefect steadily.

"All the government affairs of Duyun Mansion are still handled by Lu Huangtang, our army will go on the expedition in the near future, please ask Lu Governor's Mansion to help recruit a group of Ding Zhuang, and the money and food needed will be provided by our army." Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong came all the way to Guizhou, and they were not satisfied with only a small Duyun Mansion, they had the same idea as Yuan Zongdi, and they wanted to seize the time to turn him upside down while the Western Army had not yet reacted.

Yuan Zongdi only tossed in a small area of the "dog head", even if he left the Qingshui River, the pressure on logistics and supply was not great, and he could do whatever he wanted, Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong had a great plan, and the strength was three or four times that of Yuan Zongdi, after leaving the Qingshui River waterway, it was necessary to form a new baggage force to deliver grain and grass for the army, since Lu Bosheng was a capable and skillful magistrate, and sympathetic to the Longwu court, he simply handed over this arduous task to him.

Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong recently "robbed the house", robbed a lot of warehouses and baggage fleets of the Western Army, in addition to food and weapons and equipment, Yunnan copper coins used for military expenses are also too much to spend, Lu Bosheng also said at the beginning that the money and grain needed to collect Ding Zhuang are borne by Duyun Mansion, and then Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong couldn't resist it, so they followed them to the dock and prepared to get on the ship to get the money.

"You don't have to get on the boat, this boatload of money will be given to you, and the excess will be counted separately." Tan Xiao waved his hand magnificently, looking like a local tyrant who didn't care, but he was secretly refreshed in his heart, others spend money for a penny and always count the money, only I, General Tan, spend money one by one.

"If it's not enough, I'll give you another boat, in short, money is not a problem, but it must be fast, three thousand Ding Zhuang must be gathered within three days, and then five thousand Ding Zhuang will be recruited in ten days, these eight thousand people will have to endure hardships and stand hard work, and they must be obedient and honest." Zhou Guodong also didn't feel distressed about spending other people's money, and directly threw out a boatload of money, just like the nouveau riche in the later generations, he snapped out a bank card when he walked into a jewelry store: Just swipe it, and the diamond weighs me two catties.

Rich and easy to do, Lu Bosheng only took two days, he gathered 3,000 Ding Zhuang, and the corresponding mules, horses, livestock and vehicles were also prepared, Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong immediately marched westward, and Lianke guarded the prefectures and counties along the way, and invaded the territory of Guiyang Mansion.

At this point in the war, less than a month after the Western Expeditionary Army entered Guizhou, it swept most of the eastern part of Guizhou, divided the troops into three routes, and coerced the provincial capital Guiyang, Liu Tichun on the northern line was less than 100 miles away from the Sichuan-Guizhou border, and could go north to Sichuan at any time, and Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong on the southern line were getting closer and closer to Yunnan, the base camp of the Western Army.

The Western Army did not have a general in Guizhou, not to mention Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, the three kings of the Western Army, even Bai Wenxuan and Feng Shuangli were not at the same level, and in the face of the Chu army's unclear intentions, they could only conservatively divide their troops and deploy their defenses, on the one hand, they had to make every effort to ensure the safety of the provincial capital Guiyang, and on the other hand, they had to prevent the Chu army from attacking Sichuan, and even marched another thousand miles to Yunnan, which must not be lost.

In this way, the Chu army came and went more and more freely, although the marching speed in the plateau and mountains was relatively slow, but it almost meant to fight in the east and west, galloping at will, encountering those fortified cities and passes that were difficult to conquer, and never fell in love with war, and left as soon as they were touched, controlling the casualties within an acceptable level, and maintaining a high combat effectiveness.

After the loss of Duyun, the news reached Hengyang, Huguang, and Liu Wenxiu was speechless for a long time.

When the news reached Jingzhou, Li Dingguo thought for a while and shook his head lightly: "This battle is not easy to fight." ”

When the news reached Changsha, Sun Kewang was careless for a while, and the news was spread by his subordinates, and the officers and men of the whole army knew about it overnight. <