On 3 August, the officers and troops took the lead in coming to the north bank of the Zhongjiang River.

At the same time, they have observed a large number of rebels on the south bank of the Middle River.

Zhongjiang is located in the southern part of the Sichuan Basin, and the nearby hills are mainly hills, accounting for 90% of the area, but most of the hills are in the shape of steamed buns, and the ups and downs are not too large.

The forest cover here was only 6 percent in later generations, and it will not be much higher now.

So in terms of terrain, it is very suitable for a decisive battle.

Because there are no undulating mountains and a large number of forests, soldiers and horses cannot be hidden.

Song Sheng used this place as a decisive battle ground because he was afraid that the rebels would ambush soldiers and horses nearby.

Now there are almost all low hills nearby, there are no mountains and forests within dozens of miles, it is possible for you to hide hundreds of soldiers and thousands of soldiers and horses, but it is impossible to hide tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands.

But there is also a little bad place on this section of the river, only one bridge can be crossed, that is, where the imperial court Zhaohua Zhensi is located.

Of course, the local inspectors and archers have long since run away, and the Zhaohua Zhensi is now occupied by the rebels, and the only bridge is also in the hands of the rebels.

At this time, the rebels were stationed on the south bank of the river, and the officers and troops were on the north bank, and the two sides faced each other across the river.

Song Sheng waited for a day and saw no sign that the rebels wanted to cross the river, so he knew that the rebels wanted to wait for them to cross the river.

He relied on a large number of soldiers, naturally not afraid, so on the fourth day of the first month of August, he ordered to build a pontoon bridge, in order to prevent the rebel attack, he chose the lower reaches of Fushun County, close to Fushun County to build a bridge.

The rebels did not seem to be in a hurry to fight them in a decisive battle, and let them build bridges, and did not send troops to harass them.

The two sides are secretly preparing very tacitly.

On the sixth day of the first month of August, the first batch of 20,000 officers and soldiers slowly crossed the bridge to attack the rebel army and attack in the future.

Song Sheng became bolder, quickened his speed, and by the eighth day of August, the last group of officers and troops crossed the river.

At this point, more than 200,000 officers and soldiers all came to the south bank, and at this time they were less than 20 miles away from the camp of the rebel army.

At the same time as the sixth day of the eighth month.

Chongqing Metropolitan Department Yamen, Zhang Peng, Chen Hong and Chongqing prefect are discussing the transportation of military rations.

Zhang Peng is Zhang Wu's cousin, is the commander of the Beijing Division, this time Zhang Wu went to war with Song Sheng, he was not worried about Qu Neng, sent Zhang Peng to stay in Chongqing to cooperate, and was responsible for ensuring the supply of military rations and baggage for the army in front.

Chen Hong is Qu Tao's brother-in-law, when he came to Sichuan with Mao Xin to find Qu Neng, he was the commander of Kuizhou Guard, after Chen Wen raised troops, Qu Neng summoned the guards and horses in Sichuan, and he also came to Chongqing with the soldiers and horses of Kuizhou Guard.

Now he is the commander of the Chongqing Guard, responsible for the defense of Chongqing.

The three of them were discussing business when suddenly a herald stumbled in from outside.

"Guizhou Emergency."

"What?" Chen Hong stepped forward and took a sealed piece of wax paper, and Zhang Peng stood up on the side, his eyes glaring.

Chen Hong opened it quietly, looked at it, and immediately handed it to Zhang Peng.

He estimated that Zhang Peng might be a big old man and illiterate, because when he discussed affairs before, he could see it a little.

Sure enough, Zhang Peng anxiously asked, "What is written?" ”

Chen Hong smiled secretly in his heart, took it back again, and watched while watching: "The official army was defeated in Guizhou and retreated to Guiyang, and the rebels have surrounded Guiyang. ”

"This is the battle report in late July, calculate the time, Guiyang is now under siege."

Chen Hong sighed.

", so fast." Zhang Peng said sharply: "I want to report the news to Chengyanghou immediately." ”

The defeat of the official army in Guizhou means that the rebels in Guizhou may support Sichuan at any time.

"Don't panic, it's impossible for the rebels to come to Sichuan if they don't defeat Guiyang, and Huozhen's 50,000 officers and troops have already entered the vicinity of Guiyang."

"Then we have to remind Chengyang Hou and Xining Hou." Zhang Peng hurried away and found someone to report to the Zhongjiang area as soon as possible.

Chen Hong stared at his departing figure and quietly put away the urgent report.

The report was actually written in mid-July.

It's August now, and Guiyang has already been breached, and the rebel army in Guizhou may now have entered Sichuan.

But Chen Hong deliberately changed one word, changing the middle to the second half.

Zhang Peng, who is coarse and illiterate, didn't read it carefully, and believed it.

At this time, Zhang Shichun, the prefect of Chongqing, whispered: "According to what I just said, first ship 100,000 stone grain to Rongchang County?" ”

"Properly, it's hard to be prefected."

"Don't dare, don't dare, this is what a subordinate should do."

After Zhang Shichun finished speaking, he quietly glanced at Chen Hong, and stopped talking.

"Master Zhang, is there anything else?" Chen Hong asked.

"Recently, in the city of Chongqing, all the streets and alleys have been posted with the Han King's inscriptions and announcements, and the government officials are not manpowered, often tearing off the front foot, and someone posting it on the back foot——"

He paused and said with a smile: "I wonder if General Chen can send some soldiers to us to arrest these rebels together?" ”

Chen Hong said: "I don't have many people in my hands, brothers have to guard Chongqing City, and they have to be careful of the rebels attacking, so let's do it, I'll give you a hundred people at most, is it enough?" ”

Zhang Shichun thought to himself, of course it's not enough, how big Chongqing City is, but he can't say anything: "Enough is enough, thank you General Chen." ”

Zhang Shichun came out of the Dusi Yamen, and there was a henchman Zhu Master outside.

"What did General Chen say?"

"The one surnamed Chen is only willing to give us a hundred people." Zhang Shichun said: "This is enough." ”

Master Zhu smiled: "It's just right, anyway, we reported it, and it's not our fault that this document can't be cleaned up." ”

Zhang Shichun sneered: "King Ming has no way, and everyone in the world will punish him, and when General Chen's people arrive, arrange for them to go to the south of the city to clean up." ”

"Your Excellency is wise." Master Zhu laughed.

The south side of the city is full of difficult roads, and there are few dwellings, and there are fewer posts there, just to send this group of sergeants.

It turned out that Zhang Shichun was also against Zhu Di in his heart, but now that the official army is stationed in Chongqing, he doesn't dare to show it.

At noon the next day, Song Sheng and Zhang Wu received an urgent report that they had come to Chongqing, and the official army had been defeated in Guizhou and retreated to Guiyang.

Song Sheng asked Zhang Wu at that time: "When did it happen?" ”

"Late July."

"How many days?" Song Sheng asked again.

Zhang Wu was at a loss and turned around to call the messenger.

The messenger said: "July 28th." ”

This time is still said by Chen Hong, and he has tried to say it later.

Song Sheng thought for a moment, it was now the seventh day of the eighth month, and nearly ten days had passed.

I don't know if the rebels can take Guiyang.

"Do you know how many defenders there are in Guiyang City?" Song Sheng asked.

The messenger said: "There are more than 20,000, and Huo Zhen is approaching Guiyang with 50,000 in Qingping County." ”

Song Sheng nodded: "With 50,000 reinforcements from Huozhen, Guizhou will not be able to finish the battle for a while and a half." ”

Song Sheng was afraid that after the battle in Guizhou, the rebels would win and send troops into Sichuan, after all, their Luzhou was quite close to Guiyang.

Qu Neng said quietly at this time: "Now it's up to us to see who is faster, let's defeat Chen Wen first, and immediately divide our troops to the south to attack the rebels in Guizhou, if Guiyang wins first, they can also support us, I'm afraid--"

He Fu continued: "We don't need Guiyang's support, we are afraid that Guiyang will be defeated by the rebels first." ”

Zhang Wu immediately said loudly: "Huo Zhen and Chen Zhi are both Jingnan generals, and there are 50,000 fresh troops, in a short period of time, I am afraid it will be difficult to distinguish the winner from the loser." ”

I still have a lot of confidence in Huo Zhen and Chen Zhi.

Song Sheng said: "No matter what, let's defeat the rebels in front of us as soon as possible, and then support Guizhou." ”

All the generals claimed to be.

"Let's go, fight the rebels."

Song Sheng was already impatient at this time, hoping to fight the rebel army as soon as possible.

After lunch at noon on the seventh day of the first lunar month, Zhang Wu, the vanguard of the official army, personally led 50,000 cavalry from the direction of Fushun County, along the south bank of the Zhongjiang River, and approached the base camp of the rebel army Zhaohua Town Division step by step.

In less than half an hour, Zhang Wu, the forward of the official army, had already seen one rebel camp after another on the opposite side from a distance.

The two sides entered within five miles, and standing high and far away, they could already clearly see each other's dense soldiers and horses.

Zhang Wu will be on a hill, before he crossed the river, there are still a lot of flat land on the north bank, but after crossing the river, he found that there are many hills on the south bank, although the hills are not undulating, but a large number of soldiers and horses are a little uncomfortable to stand up, after the various phalanxes of the officers and soldiers are lined up in turn, there are many people standing on the slope, and there are also people standing in the basin, which looks uneven and not very good-looking.

Of course, the same is true for the rebel army on the other side.

"Special mother, this place in Sichuan is not suitable for an army of more than 100,000 people to fight." Zhang Wu scolded.

In the history of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Wei and Shu came in from the north of Hanzhong, because the mountain road was rugged, the widest place was only three zhang, and the army and the baggage stretched for hundreds of miles.

During the battle of Xingshi, as long as a few hundred people were arranged in front of the Shu army, tens of thousands of Wei troops could not attack it, there was no way, the road was too narrow, and only a few dozen people could be invested each time, and tens of thousands of people in the back could not pass.

Therefore, Zhang Wu saw that this terrain was also a headache, the highlands were uneven, and the ups and downs were powerful, but fortunately, the slope was not large, otherwise it would be difficult to walk with a lot of baggage.

At this time, he looked back and saw that the officers and soldiers only had his soldiers and horses, and he had brought ten artillery pieces from Changsha, and at this moment a large number of carriages and people were pulling the artillery.

But the Hongwu cannon was a bit heavy, and their carriages were all wheelbarrows, and they walked very slowly in such a sloped place.

I have to find a place to place the artillery, Zhang Wu pondered in his heart.

At this time, his son Zhang Hao came over and asked where the artillery was arranged.

Zhang Hao is the second son of Zhang Peng who stayed in Chongqing, Zhang Wu has no son, and he succeeded Zhang Hao as a son.

Zhang Hao is good at firearms, and he is a firearm battalion in his army, and Zhang Wu loves him very much and treats him as if he has been out.

"Wait, wait for the rebels to enter within two miles, and then find a place, find a high place." Zhang Wudao.

"Whoa."

The maximum range of the Hongwu cannon is close to one mile, and if it is at a high place, it can slightly increase the range.

Zhang Wu planned to enter within two miles and resettle again, and when the two sides took over, they would be able to enter the range of one mile and deal a heavy blow to the rebels.

"Woo-" At this time, the horn sounded in the official army, and when Zhang Wu heard it, it seemed to be the sound of preparing for battle.

He was a little surprised and looked in the direction of the Chinese army, and after a while, a messenger came to him.

"The Marquis of Xining reported urgently, the sentry cavalry detected that a large number of rebels appeared in the direction of Xuzhou, the number is about 100,000, and there are still 30 miles away from our army."

"What?" Zhang Wu was dumbfounded, Qu Neng said before that there were still about 50,000 rebels to hide, but he didn't expect that there were still 100,000.

In this way, the rebels should have 150,000 men.

"Special mother, it's good to come, let's fight together." Zhang Wu's mouth is quite hard.

But before his voice fell, another messenger ran over in the distance.

"Report, Rongchang urgent report."

"In the direction of Yongchuan, there are Datou rebels, numbering about 50,000."

"What?" Zhang Wu almost jumped up and hurriedly asked, "Where is Yongchuan?" ”

Passed the soldiers back to the road, in the direction of Rongchang.

Rongchang is the base camp of the official army, after the official army came out from Chongqing, Shunqing Mansion and other places, converged in Rongchang County, and there are still a large number of baggage and grain and grass in Rongchang.

Zhang Wu's face suddenly became even more unsightly.

At this time, the number of rebels was not much worse than theirs, and they surrounded them from three directions, so it can be said that except for the Zhongjiang River in their north, the three sides of the southeast and west were all rebels.

"Report, Xining Hou urgently summoned Chengyang Hou to discuss the matter."

(End of chapter)