Dominate the Country

[The collection suddenly increased by one or two hundred. Someone must have sent me a red envelope. Thank you very much. Thank you very much...]

Hundreds of ships loaded with military supplies and food went down the Han River in front of Xiangyang City. Shi Liang, standing on the top of Xiangyang City, could see the thickly dressed boatmen on those ships with his naked eyes. Without exception, these people no longer had the braids on their heads or necks. They were the foundation of water conservancy transportation that Chen's army relied on!

When they were in Ruzhou, they were all local fishermen or boatmen in the river, but when Chen's army left Yunyang, they collected raftsmen in the Han River - raft workers of the rafting sect.

They either directly joined Chen's army or were tempted by the money and food thrown by Chen Ming. Anyway, the military supplies and food that Chen Ming brought with him were all transported by boat.

Chen Ming put a few soldiers on each ship. In addition to the hundreds of cargo ships full of supplies, there was also a group of men who could swim that he had gathered, about four or five hundred people, rowing twenty or thirty civilian ships as the defense force of the fleet.

These people were not the navy camp of the Chen family army, but a part of the logistics force.

Chen Ming did not take this "navy" of thousands of people seriously.

"Master Shi, Chen Ni is going south." Xue Shiyan was a little confused. Chen Ming was so bold that he set sail without even pulling out the nail in Xiangyang on the way back?

You know, the artillery of the Chen family army bombarded the north levee for two whole days yesterday and the day before yesterday. Xue Shiyan did not doubt the determination of the Chen family army to capture Xiangyang. Last night, he discussed with Shi Liang to divide a part of the army to garrison in the west of the city to support Wanshan nearby.

I never thought that Chen's army would set sail today...

Going south from Xiangyang is Zhongxiang, the capital of Anlu Prefecture, and Jingmen, but these are not the problems. The problem is that going south from Jingmen is the empty Jingzhou Prefecture Jiangling. There are tens of thousands of women and children of the Eight Banners living there. Jingzhou City just cried all over the city, and now Chen's army is coming. If they ignore it, the whole city of Jingzhou will probably be slaughtered by Chen Ni, right? By then, they can't even think about staying on their necks.

"Xue Zhentai immediately led his troops south and rushed to Jingzhou by land."

Shi Liang had a layer of cold sweat on his forehead. If Jingzhou was lost, he would not be able to atone for his sins even if he died a hundred times.

The battle of Yongrui lost more than 1,500 banner soldiers. Shi Liang saw clearly what happened to the dignified Duke of the royal family. He didn't want to repeat the same mistake.

The waterway from Xiangyang to Hanchuan is 350 miles, but if Chen's army wants to go all the way to Hanchuan, it must break the obstruction of the government and civilians along the way, and then cross the Han River from Hanchuan and rush to Jingzhou by land. The interval is also 120 to 30 miles. If Xue Shiyan leads his troops to rush all the way, it is not impossible to enter Jingzhou before Chen's army arrives.

Of course, there are still a large number of Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners in Jingzhou City. If you really count, Jiangling City can gather at least 4,000 Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners, including more than 700 horse armor soldiers. And if all the male members of the Eight Banners are on the battlefield, this number can easily reach 6,000 or 7,000.

As the core place for the Qing Dynasty to suppress Huguang, the Jingzhou Manchu Camp reached 20,000 soldiers and civilians in the early years of Kangxi, and about 3,800 horse and foot soldiers. From the late Kangxi Dynasty to the middle of the Qianlong Dynasty, the population of Jingzhou Manchu City continued to increase, and now there are nearly 30,000 people. There are nearly 6,500 registered flag soldiers.

One hundred and twenty years ago, a city garrisoned by four or five thousand Manchu soldiers faced an attack by ten thousand rebels, and needed emergency rescue from Xiangyang soldiers hundreds of miles away. This was a joke. But one hundred and twenty years have passed, and the Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing Dynasty have long been unusable.

When Shi Liang and Xue Shiyan saw the Chen family army sailing south, the first impression that flashed through their minds was the emptiness of Jingzhou Prefecture City, an empty Jiangling City. No matter who they were, they did not take the remaining four thousand banner soldiers in Jiangling City seriously.

When the last ship of the Chen family army passed in front of Xiangyang City, the troops in Yichang Town had been reorganized. Shi Liang also sent people to report to Wuchang, but if he waited for the Governor of Huguang Dingchang to make up his mind before Xue Shiyan set out, it would definitely be too late.

Shi Liang now has another problem. Should he send a troop across the river to take a look? If there is really no bandit soldier in Fancheng, then the Chen family army has really gone south.

…

Yuzhou. The weather is getting colder and colder. The deadly north wind blows, and the chill penetrates into people's bones. Ordinary people in the local area stay at home in winter. They stay at home not to be lazy, but to avoid the cold. Only those who are really in trouble at home or who work for others have to be busy in the cold winter.

Zong Weifeng walked into Yuzhou City. He saw men with blue faces and purple lips. There was a layer of fine snow from time to time in the sky. These days were no different from their hometown in Lushiying.

Of course, Yuzhou City is much richer than Lushi County. For example, Zong Weifeng's destination today, this ordinary courtyard, has a different world inside. The courtyards with several entrances and exits, corridors, roofs, wooden pillars, and lattice windows are ingeniously designed. It is definitely not a place that can be described as gorgeously decorated or exquisitely furnished. Walking into the room, Zong Weifeng was envious of the exquisite porcelain, embroidery, gold and silver objects that decorated every inch of the room.

There were many of them, but they were not tacky at all.

There were also fire walls that made the whole house warm like spring. Zong Weifeng walked along the way and took off his outer fur coat naturally when he entered the room.

At this time, in the main hall, an old man with gray hair and beard was sitting upright. There were no maids and women around to wait on him. There were kettles, teacups, and snacks on a coffee table. He could eat and drink by himself.

Although Zong Weifeng is an officer in the first battalion, his status here is not very good. When he walked in, the old man at the top of the room just nodded his head as a signal, but Zong Weifeng couldn't get angry. You must know that this old man is the head of Yuzhou Medicinal Materials Store, and even the governor of Yuzhou will give him three points.

He is Fang Tinglan, the proprietor of the famous Tai Shenglong in Yuzhou. It has been fifty years since Tai Shenglong was passed to him, and Fang Tinglan has made him prosperous for another twenty years. Let Tai Shenglong take the top spot in Yuzhou.

Fang Tinglan coughed. He didn't look good. He didn't know whether it was because he was afraid of the cold because of his old age or because of the news from Kaifeng Mansion.

Everyone in the hall knew that Fang Tinglan had gone to Kaifeng a few days ago, because there was a new owner on the throne of the first place in Henan Province. The former Henan Chief Minister He Xun became the Governor of Henan, and the former Anhui Inspector Chen Huizucheng He became the chief envoy of Henan Province. Although this guy also suffered a huge defeat, looking at what happened, Chen Huizu's performance was three ways ahead of Yongrui and the others. Emperor Qianlong believed that Chen Huizu's defeat could be forgiven and ordered him to temporarily take over the post of chief envoy to Henan.

Fang Tinglan scanned the crowd, his squinted old eyes shone with a cold light like poisonous snakes, and he said in a gloomy tone: "I wonder if all the proprietors and shopkeepers have heard that this time the battle of Yanling was won by the government and the army. "