On the map, the situation of the Ming, Zhou, and Qing dynasties on the battlefields of Anhui, Hubei, and Jiangxi has been marked by small flags.

Of course, this is the situation that Li Fuchen and Li Laishun are currently aware of, and Cai Yurong, who has just received 500,000 taels of silver in the "demolition compensation" and has become the minister of Nanyang in the Ming Dynasty, also knows everything, and told Li Fuchen and Li Laiheng all the information he knows about the deployment of the Qing army under the Jieshu Institute.

Based on the information provided by Cai Yurong and the little information revealed by the beacon fire that came last night, the Nanwangfu troops under Li Fuchen quickly marked on the map with small flags what they thought were the most likely offensive direction of the Wu Zhou army and the deployment of the Ming and Qing armies according to the methods they had learned in the Guangdong Lecture and Martial Arts Hall.

As soon as these small flags were placed on the map, the subordinates of King Nan and King Zhong, as well as Cai Yurong, the deputy envoy of Nanyang Commerce, surrounded them.

The situation on the map is clear at a glance, the main force of the Ming army is roughly divided into two roads, one is the land division, led by Li Fuchen, the king of the south, and Li Laishun, the king of loyalty, concentrated in Nanchang, and the troops are pointing directly at Jiujiang in the north. Also all the way is the waterway, led by Liu Yihu, the governor of the naval army of the Zhongwang Mansion, along the Yangtze River downstream, has taken advantage of the opportunity of the tailwind, downstream east, from the Jiujiang, the Yangtze River north of the mouth of the Yangtze River quickly passed, to occupy the east of the mouth of the Madang Town and Madang Mountain, but also down the water village, waiting for the Yangtze River naval army directly under the imperial court to join the division.

In addition, the Zhongwang Mansion of the Ming Dynasty also arranged a formation of resistance along the Yangtze River and the Han River, and at the same time placed 5,000 soldiers in Suizhou City at the throat of the Zaosui corridor between Dahong Mountain and Tongbai Mountain. Looks pretty solid!

Because the information that the beacon tower can transmit is very limited, Li Fuchen and Li Laishun didn't know that Wu Zhoujun had come to a grain ship to sneak attack and go straight to Jiangxia, and they all entered Jiangxia City at this time, and they thought that the main force of Wu Zhou's army slowly arched along the Yangtze River and the Han River!

Therefore, the flags symbolizing the Zhou army are now placed along the Yangtze River and the Han River, and some small flags of the Zhou army are also placed in Zaoyang County, Xiangyang Prefecture.

As for the Qing army, it relied on Poyang Lake to arrange a triangular defensive formation. Concentrate troops to garrison the county seat of Dehua and Hukou in Jiujiang Prefecture and the county seat of Xingzi in Nankang Prefecture on the edge of Poyang Lake.

Among them, Dehua of Jiujiang Prefecture has always been the base camp of Jieshu, the north, east and southeast of the county are either the Yangtze River or Poyang Lake, the southwest is Lushan, and there is a Bali Lake in the east. It's a land island!

Hukou is a peninsula with two mountains and a wetland, and the county seat of Hukou is in the middle

Xingzi County is at the foot of the southern foot of Lushan Mountain, surrounded by mountains and lakes, and also guards the entrance of the Ganjiang River.

The terrain of these three strongholds is not only dangerous, but also the occupancy is particularly lacking!

The width of the water surface between Hukou and Dehua is only about two miles, and it has long been sealed by Jieshu with a pontoon bridge and the Shizhongshan platform at the mouth of the lake!

And Xingzi County has sealed the entrance to the Ganjiang River again!

The entire Poyang Lake became the inner lake of the Qing army, and the Yangtze River sailors of the Ming Dynasty could not enter, even if Li Fuchen could build some boats in the Ganjiang River, he would not be able to pass through the mouth of Xingzi County.

And Jieshu's Qing army had a sailor, so the three defenders could support each other and directly jam the most convenient passage in and out of Jiangxi.

And the guard of Dehua is Prince Kang Jieshu, that is the prince of the Qing Dynasty, no matter how he can't surrender to the Ming Dynasty, right?

The defender of Hukou was Mang Yitu, who had previously followed Echu to manage Jiangning's garrison of the Eight Banners, and his wife and children were slaughtered by Daming (actually Geng Jingzhong)!

Xingzi's keeper is the old Manchurian Zhenghong's Aixin Jueluo. Fu Lata is the grandson of the "little boar skin" Shulhazy! It is also the generation of old Manchuria that saw the Qing Dynasty rise up and saw the building about to collapse. It is also a bit difficult for him to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

Since none of the above three are willing to surrender, and the territory they control is extremely dangerous, the army under their command also has a certain content. It's not going to be a good fight.

In the festival hall, most of the people showed a solemn expression, and Cai Yurong, who had just taken refuge in the Ming Dynasty, also frowned and said: "Jiujiang, Xingzi, and Hukou are all dangerous terrain and difficult to besiege, and there are many defenders, each with more than 10,000 people, and the three can be connected by waterway to support each other, it is very difficult to fight If Wu Sangui is marching along the Yangtze River and Hanshui."

Speaking of this, he shook his head and said, "King Nan, now I am afraid that Wu Sangui will attack Wuchang and Hanyang with all his might. If we can't break the Jiujiang River before he defeats Wuchang Hanyang, the passage up the river to Wuchang will be smooth. Then it is very likely that Wu Sangui will go down the river and join the Qing army in Jiangxi after breaking Wuchang! Even Geng Jingzhong of Zhejiang would march west to Jiangxi and fight with Wu Sangui and Jieshu. When the time comes."

Speaking of which, Cai Yurong's chubby face is a little green!

Shouldn't this 500,000 taels of "selling silver" be collected?

"Third brother, let's talk about the strategy of the General's Mansion!"

Li Fuchen still looks calm and relaxed, don't look at him, he always likes to quarrel with Li Zhongshan, but he still trusts this "son who doesn't study well" very much. Sometimes when drinking with a few old brothers, he will boast that "giving birth to a son should be like Li Zhongshan, and the son of Shunzhi Ye is like a pig and a dog".

"Father, the Great General's Mansion previously judged that Wu Sangui was very likely to be pretending to be sick and paralyzing our side, so as to launch a surprise and rapid offensive Of course, if Wu Sangui is really seriously ill and will die soon, then it is impossible for Wu Zhou to launch a major offensive. And once Wu Zhou launches a big offensive, it means that Wu Sangui is pretending to be sick, and the offensive of the Zhou army must not be easy to deal with! Jiangxia, Hankow, and Hanyang are likely to change hands in a short period of time! ”

"What?"

"How is this possible?"

Cai Yurong and Li Laishun exclaimed together.

Li Laishun's surprise quickly turned into anxiety, and he looked at Li Fuchen with an anxious face: "King Nan, Jiangxia is the foundation of my family, and there is no room for error!" I have to hurry back to the army to help Jiangxia, and I will leave."

"Don't worry." Li Fuchen saw that Li Laishun was leaving, so he hurriedly stopped him, "And listen to the third child of my family." ”

"Your Royal Highness, don't worry." Li Zhongzheng said, "It's useless to be in a hurry!" ”

"Useless? How could it be useless? ”

Li Zhongzheng explained: "Because Nanchang is 600 miles away from Jiangxia, even if your army travels 100 miles a day, it will have to go for six days. Even if your 20,000 troops return to Jiangxia, can they resist Wu Sangui? Wu Sangui and Kangxi have formed an alliance, and the north does not need to use a large number of troops for the time being, and Jiangxia is the thoroughfare of the world, as long as the Yangtze River and the Han River are mastered, it is very convenient to transport troops and grain. As long as Wu Sangui is willing, there is no problem in investing 200,000 troops in Jiangxia. And how much can we invest in Jiangxia?

So. The General's Mansion judged that the three cities of Jiangxia, Hankou, and Hanyang would most likely not be able to hold it, and they would not be able to fight Wu Sangui there. ”

"No decisive battle? "Li Laishun was shocked, "then what should I do?" Don't you want Wuchang Mansion and Hanyang Mansion? I don't want the homes of tens of thousands of loyal people in the palace of the loyal king? ”

"His Royal Highness King Zhong," Li Zhongzheng said, "The General's Mansion has already made arrangements, and he has already sent a bag to Fengtiangong of the Zhongwang Mansion, as long as he follows the situation, although Jiangxia does not defend it, the family members of the Zhongwang Army can still be preserved, and the team of the Zhongwang Mansion can still be maintained in the territory of Wuchang Mansion." So you don't have to come back! ”

"What? Don't have to come back? Li Laishun was a little anxious, "Who are you?" If you don't let this king come back to help, you won't come back to help? ”

"His Royal Highness King Zhong," Li Zhongzheng said lightly, "the general has already ordered His Royal Highness the King of Nan to control the entire army in Jiangxi. You are now at the command of the King of the South! ”

"Listen to the King of the South" Li Laishun is not right when he hears this!

Everyone is a king, why should the loyal king listen to the king of the south? Just because the king of the south is high?

Li Fuchen smiled and took out a letter of fold and handed it to Li Laishun: "King Zhong, this is the general's edict, see for yourself!" ”

Li Laishun hurriedly took this fold, opened it and took a look, that's right, the handwriting and official seal seem to be quite right, and the content inside is a meaning, General Pingxi, Li Fuchen, the king of the south, controls all the Ming army and state capital in Jiangxi! And also specifically stated that the loyal king Li Laishun was required to obey the command of the southern king Li Fuchen until the general himself arrived!

"King Chung!" Li Zhongzheng said, "Now that the enemy is present, the military orders and decrees of the Ming Dynasty must be unified as much as possible, and you must believe in the ability of the general and His Royal Highness the King of the South to fight with troops!" ”

Li Fuchen said with a smile: "King Zhong, you still can't believe my ability to fight with the King of England?" Listen to me well, yes, although Jiang Xia can't hold it, your grandfather and the family members of Zhongwangjun will be fine. The General's Mansion has all arrangements! ”

Li Zhongzheng said with confidence: "The general's arrangement is to lure Wu Sangui into Poyang Lake!" When he enters Poyang Lake, the general will personally lead the naval army to fight, and we will keep him as Chen Youliang's second! ”

Li Laishun muttered: "Then, that's Wu Sangui!" ”

Li Fuchen said with a smile: "This time it's Wu Sangui who fights!" ”

Li Laishun thought for a while and asked, "Then what should we do next?" ”

"Go to Jiujiang!" Li Fuchen said.

"To Jiujiang?" Li Laishun was stunned.

"Yes!" Li Fuchen said with a smile, "Let's go to feint to attack Jiujiang, so as to give Jieshu an excuse to be Wu Sangui's dog!" He took the dog, so he had to save the dog's life! ”

Li Zicheng and his old battalion soldiers in Jiangxia City have been struggling to support since last night, but under the blows of the elite Wu Zhoujun who fought against the water, they retreated step by step.

Although the supply of flintlock pistols in Foshan, Guangzhou, was also open to Zhongwangfu, Zhongwangfu also purchased some. However, the old battalion soldiers under Li Zicheng and himself still felt that it was more reliable to have a fire rope to ignite the gunpowder.

And they also prefer the powerful turtledove's foot musket, which can weigh as much as a halve! Enough to penetrate the large wooden shield on the shield cart!

Therefore, Li Zicheng's old battalion was not equipped with flintlock muskets, but about one-third of the infantry was equipped with turtledove-foot muskets. If you pull up the cannons and cooperate with the cavalry and horses to fight field battles outside the city, you will not necessarily lose to the flintlock pikemen.

But now it's in the city!

Moreover, Wu Shijue and Lin Xingzhu came too suddenly, Li Zicheng was in a hurry, and there was no time to deploy artillery, and there was no horse team in the city to use it at this moment. So the two sides began to fight with muskets!

With a pair of shots, Li Zicheng's people immediately suffered a loss. Wu Shijue and Lin Xingzhu brought more than 1,000 flintlock pipers, and also seized the city wall around the Hanyang Gate Tower.

However, Li Zicheng is also a veteran of the battle formation, and when he saw that he couldn't fight, he didn't rush hard, but turned to the defense and built barricades, and sent people out of the city to mobilize reinforcements.

Wu Shijue and Lin Xingzhu immediately turned to the offensive, and they saw Li Zicheng's old battalion soldiers guarding the houses on the side of the street, so they took advantage of the opportunity of the northwest wind to set fire along the street, and then used the smoke to cover and send one by one "swords, muskets, bows and arrows" to fight in the streets.

The elite Wu Zhoujun soon gained the upper hand again.

In the line of fighting, it seems that it is not "the older you get, the more popular you are", Li Zicheng's veterans are not the elite opponents of the Wu family, whether they have to shoot or have to fight hand-to-hand combat!

However, as soon as the fire was put off, it got out of control, and soon it became more and more vigorous, and began to spread all the way along the inner street of Hanyangmun Gate, burning towards the imperial city.

The city shrouded in fire suddenly had a bit of a hellish scene, and countless civilians cried and ran, and these civilians fled all over the city, and the news of "Wu Sangui's soldiers arrived" spread to other parts of the city.

Now the whole Jiangxia is in chaos!

Wu Sangui's army doesn't have a good reputation here in Wuchang!

They are going to destroy the city, even if they don't slaughter it, they will inevitably take it for a while.

Therefore, the panicked crowd wanted to escape from the city, but except for Hanyang Gate, the other gates of Jiangxia City were tightly locked! The people who couldn't escape were huddled together in several city gates in the north, east, and south directions of Jiangxia City, crying and shouting and trampling on each other, and I don't know how many innocent people were swallowed up by the long river of history.

Li Zicheng sat on the wall of the Jiangxia Imperial City, staring at one eyeball, and was angrily supervising the battle.

The current situation in Jiangxia City certainly doesn't look good, but Li Zicheng still doesn't want to give up. Of course, he knew that the way that Wu Sangui sent to attack Wuchang was only a pioneer or a partial division. But now that I don't know what moves Wu Sangui will make, let's deal with his deviant master first!

As long as they can be driven out of Jiangxia City, then this battle will still be fought!

Just as he was thinking about this, someone suddenly shouted: "Beacon fire. Northeast of Hankow! It seems that Suizhou has lost! ”

Li Zicheng chuckled in his heart, and immediately realized that it was not good!

He looked up to the northeast, it was almost dusk in the afternoon, but the weather was very clear, the sky was clear and blue, and the smoke rising from the beacon towers was very dazzling.

"Emperor, it seems that Wu Sangui still avoided the Yangtze River and the Han River, and concentrated his forces to go south with the corridor!"

Li Laiheng's marching big Sima Hu is now standing next to Li Zicheng, and he still has the "trick" of the General's Mansion in his pocket - this trick Li Zicheng already knows, but he is unwilling to adopt it.

The reason for the reluctance to adopt it is very simple, that is, the General's Mansion believes that before the Yangtze River waterway is completely opened, the Ming Dynasty does not have the conditions to launch a decisive battle with Wu Zhou in the Huguang area.

Therefore, the General's Mansion thinks that Jiangxia, Hankou, and Hanyang cannot be defended!

Therefore, it was suggested that after sufficient resistance had been put up to cover the evacuation of the people and their families from Jiangxia, one could consider abandoning Jiangxia Castle, where the Chungwangfu was located, and then moving to Jiugongshan in the Magunbu Mountains in the southern part of Wuchang Province to establish the Chungwang Mansion.

This means that Li Zicheng should go up the mountain to establish an anti-Wu base area!

He didn't want to do this, how much effort did he put into Jiangxia City? How can you say don't want it?

In addition, he now gives up Jiangshan and enters Mubu Mountain, and when Wu Sangui is beaten away in the future, this Jiangxia City can still be surnamed Li. Is the surname Li Zicheng Li?

But now the beacon towers in the northeast of Hankou are all billowing with smoke.

This can only mean one thing, Wu Sangui's army is attacking Suizhou!

As soon as Suizhou was lost, the north of Hankou opened the door.

"Emperor, we don't have many people on the territory south of Suizhou to Hankou, once Suizhou is not defended, Wu Zhou's army will be like no one, and it will arrive in Hankou in a few days. When the time comes, it will be too late to arrange a retreat!

Emperor, stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of no firewood! We have a foundation in the Makubu Mountain, and we can hold on to the reinforcements if we retreat. And if you are waiting on Jiangxia's side, I'm afraid you can only ...... Missed opportunity! ”

Li Zicheng's army was quite numerous, his family members were even larger, and there must have been many people in Jiangxia who were willing to follow Li Zicheng up the mountain in order to escape the brutal Wu army.

So many people have to run away, and they also have to drag their families and families to help the old and the young. It is not possible to retreat slowly without ten days and half a month!

Because now Hankou is empty, and Wu Zhou's army raided and seized the Jiangxia Hanyang Gate and the docks outside the Hanyang Gate, as well as a large number of ships!

As soon as Wu Sangui's army arrived, he would be able to cross the river and join the battle.

Then it's really all over!

Therefore, Li Zicheng could not see Wu Sangui's army arrive in Hankou and then start to withdraw people.

He had to make a decision as soon as possible!

"Wait!" Li Zicheng gritted his teeth and said, "If it is tomorrow morning, the beacon towers along the Han River and the Yangtze River will not be lit again." This shows that Wu Sangui's main force is to go south with the road through dates...... Then we'll have to start retreating. ”

"The emperor is wise!" Hu Yigun breathed a sigh of relief, coming from Suizhou, there are still three or four hundred miles, how can Wu Jiajun catch up, it will take a few days.

Therefore, it is relatively calm to start retreating early tomorrow morning. The families of all the troops should be able to withdraw, and most of the defenders in the beacon towers and fortresses along the Yangtze River and the Han River should also be able to withdraw.

And the Zhongwang Mansion is in Jiugong Mountain, and it has always had a little foundation. It is completely possible to take Jiugong Mountain as the center, rely on Mubu Mountain to establish a large anti-Wu base area, and deal with the surname Wu to the end.

(End of chapter)