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Chapter 200 Moved to Hunan Zhang Xianzhong

At that time, Zhang Xianzhong had an urgent need to solve the military ration problem, but he didn't have many options at hand.

Shao Jiechun in the west was strictly guarded against, and Zhang Xianzhong's troops could only reach Wushan County outside Qutang Gorge.Zhang Ling, a veteran under Shao Jiechun's command, has been defending Qutang Wei, the capital of Kuizhou, with [-] to [-] troops for more than a year.

If there is a geography novice who is not familiar with these place names, you can easily understand the danger with a little example-Qutangwei is the Yongan Baidi City at the end of the Han Dynasty. When Liu Bei was defeated and fled back to Baidi City, Lu Xun could not pursue it. up.

Qutang Gorge has always been the most dangerous part of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. The Baiyan Mountain and Chijia Mountain on both sides of the river can rise five hundred feet above the river.

The allusions of "Tiesuo Hengjiang" in the later dynasties also came from here.Whether it was Wu Yan, the prefect of Jianping County in the Eastern Wu Dynasty at the end of the Three Kingdoms period, or Dai Shou, the prime minister of the Ming Yuzhen regime in Sichuan who was defeated by Zhu Yuanzhang at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, they all pulled iron cables to cross the Yangtze River here.

Therefore, unless the Sichuan army's own command mistakes revealed flaws, it is impossible to enter Sichuan by storming here.

There is no way to the west, so I have to look at the east again.

It's a pity that Zhang Xianzhong couldn't beat Fang Kongxuan and Shen Shuren in the east.

Although the terrain in Yiling and other places is not as dangerous as Qutang Gorge, Shen Shuren's army is much stronger than Shao Jiechun's. It is said that the number of troops alone is at least twice that of Shao Jiechun's, not to mention that Shen's army seems to be well equipped.

Zhang Xianzhong was in a dilemma, and in the end he had no choice but to cross the Yangtze River south on the spot between Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, and divide his troops to raise food.

Both sides of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River are dangerous places with mountains. The north bank is relatively better. There are several basins that can be used for Wushan County, Zigui and other counties. They have been inhabited by Han people since ancient times—at least as early as the Three Kingdoms period, when Liu Bei defeated Wu. Relying on these counties, we can go out of Sichuan for seven hundred miles.

(Wushan County is between Qutang Gorge and Wu Gorge, and Zigui County is between Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge, which is the gentle zone between every two gorges of the Three Gorges. There are basins that can form a county)

The canyon area on the south bank of the Yangtze River is even more sinister. Since ancient times, there have been no Han people inhabited. Even in the 21st century, that area is only an autonomous place for the Tu nationality in Enshi, Hubei.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Enshi area did not even have a "fu"-level administrative agency, only one Badong County, and the rest were guards to deter chieftains, such as "Shizhou Guards",
Shizhouwei is in charge of more than [-] Xuanfu divisions and barbarian chiefs' lawsuits. To put it bluntly, they are some chieftains of the Tu nationality who nominally surrendered to Ming Dynasty.

Going south from Shizhouwei, you will enter the territory of Hunan in later generations, which is the territory of the Miao people in western Hunan. In the Ming Dynasty, there were still a bunch of chieftains who had not changed their land and returned to their native land, just like Wuling barbarians.

Zhang Xianzhong was cornered in both the east and west directions, and couldn't get over the wild mountains of Shennongjia in the north, so he had to divide his troops across the south to fight bloody with these barbarian chieftains, kill the barbarians to grab food, and solve the problem of food for the army.

Since the end of February, Zhang Xianzhong had already started this operation. He sent his third adopted son Li Dingguo to raise food and kill people. He did it relatively secretly.

The official army didn't seem to realize it at first, but it has been two or three months. Even if the news is blocked, the official army should be aware of it.After all, some of the chieftain tribes who were attacked and slaughtered by Zhang Xianzhong always escaped alive and would ask the government for help.

It's just that Fang Kongzhang, governor of Huguang, felt that those barbarians themselves were not kings, and they seemed to be self-reliant.Since those official taxpayers who were not originally registered as households of the imperial court and Qimin have not yet returned to their native lands, let them consume each other with Zhang Xianzhong, and the government can't make a long-distance expedition to the Miaozhai mountainous area to rescue them.

(Note: At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Southwestern barbarian chieftains were also very separatist. In history, after Zhang Xianzhong’s army entered Sichuan, he and the barbarian chieftains fought each other for many years. Too many natives were massacred by Zhang Xianzhong, and the population of the forces dropped sharply.

After Sichuan was emptied, the Qing Dynasty "moved the lakes and broadened Sichuan", in fact, the main people who moved were the Miao people in western Hunan and the local people in Shizhou. These residents in the Three Gorges area were the easiest to move to Sichuan, and they didn't obey their control in the mountains. They tend to move them first. After the main population is moved out, western Hunan and western Hubei will be completely reformed.)
Therefore, Fang Kongzhang turned a blind eye to Zhang Xianzhong's antagonism, and just passed the relevant news back to Shen Shuren, sharing information together, and watching the changes.

Now, after three and four months of bloody battles, Li Dingguo basically killed the Tusi tribe in Shizhouwei, and took all the food from the Tu people to supply the army rations.

Beginning in May, Zhang Xianzhong's army further launched an attack on the Miao area in western Hunan.

Due to unacceptable water and soil, rampant miasma and pests in the southern mountainous areas, many soldiers under Zhang Xianzhong fell ill, suffered from plague, and lost combat effectiveness.

But he had no choice but to bite the bullet for supplies.Anyway, if you don't grab food, the soldiers will starve to death, it is better to die in the process of killing.

The same death of so many of his own people, the former method of death is useless, and the latter method of death has accumulated experience points for killing.

And these Miao people and native chieftains don't have muskets, sophisticated weapons, or strong city walls. At most, they are good at using poison weapons, which is easy to solve at the military level.As long as Zhang Xianzhong is not afraid of death from the plague and fills in people's lives, he can always be taken down.

The original government of the Ming Dynasty could not establish effective rule in Shizhou Wei and Xiangxi. It was because the Ming Dynasty was based on tax collection, and the cost of long-term tax collection and governance was too high.

Zhang Xianzhong did not have these problems, he was only here to kill and rob, and he bought and sold with one hammer, without having to consider the mess of long-term management, so it was very convenient.

……

And just as the massacre of the Miao people in western Hunan was in full swing, Zhang Xianzhong got two pieces of good news almost on the same day:

Early this morning, he first received a report from Li Dingguo, and he slaughtered two other barbarian chiefs in western Hunan, and he also robbed at least enough food for more than 1 people to eat the autumn harvest.

At lunch time, the spy who was lurking on Yang Sichang's side came back to report and told Zhang Xianzhong: A considerable part of the main force of Shen Shuren had been transferred northward by Yang Sichang, and there seemed to be a force on Shao Jiechun's side who would be transferred to Shaanxi by Yang Sichang and be controlled by Sun Chuanting .

After receiving these two pieces of good news, Zhang Xianzhong swept away the haze of more than a year, suffocated the remaining wine in the bowl, smashed the bowl, and relieved the stale air in his chest.

"There is no unparalleled road! Li Zicheng finally opened up the situation! Yang Sichang transferred all the main force of Shen Shuren away! God helped me!"

Zhang Xianzhong made some calculations, and quickly asked his entourage to find the eldest son Kewang, and ordered a few words:

"Let the second child come back immediately! Discuss the next battle plan! No, let him go back to Shizhouwei first, and I will go south to check with him personally! In addition, let the third child also prepare! You are responsible for staying in Zigui!"

"I obey." Sun Kewang first agreed to express his attitude, and then asked, "I don't know how many soldiers and horses the father needs to prepare for his southward trip? My son can allocate food and grass in advance."

Zhang Xianzhong: "You should first keep 3 people, mainly the new attached army, and divide them into Zigui, Wushan, and Badong. The rest may be taken away one after another, but it is not sure yet. I will go to Xiangxi to learn about the current situation of the war. After the enemy's situation is distributed, it can be finally determined, and then the troops will be sent south in batches.

If the chieftain's combat strength in western Hunan is really weak, and the strength of Shen Shuren and Fang Kongzhang is indeed weakened due to the transfer, the main force of our army will naturally take the opportunity to infiltrate the rich hinterland of Huguang. "

After Sun Kewang asked clearly, he stepped back and began to deploy.In the early morning of the next day, Zhang Xianzhong first took the elite of the direct line of the headquarters, crossed the Yangtze River and went down the Yangtze River, passing through Badong County to Shizhouwei.

And the outpost messenger he sent, of course, has traveled hundreds of miles a day to inform Li Dingguo, and Li Dingguo also handed over the battle ahead to his subordinates. He himself returned with hundreds of light cavalry, and went to the fortress left by Shizhouwei to meet his father. .

Because Li Dingguo has been fighting in a barbaric land for a long time in the past two or three months, Li Dingguo's news is not very well-informed, so he doesn't know that Huguang Fang Kongzhang and Shen Shuren's troops are weak.

Zhang Xianzhong came to inspect the army in a hurry, and he was a little surprised, thinking that his father was worried about it.

After the two met, Li Dingguo was very courteous, and Zhang Xianzhong told him that he knew that the main force of Shen Shuren had been transferred to Henan by Yang Sichang.

Then, Zhang Xianzhong compared the map and chased him to interrogate him: "Yesterday, I got the good news you sent back, and the Shinan Xuanfu Division and the Gaoluo Division were destroyed, plus the Dongxiang Wulu Division, Longtan Division, Jin We have wiped out at least seven or eight tribes in Shizhouwei, such as the chieftain tribes such as Dong Anfusi.

If you look at the map, you can go to Yuezhou Prefecture only after two chieftain tribes, Zhongdong Pacify Division and Zhongjian Xuanfu Division—how long do you think it will take to take it?

Also, after taking these two chieftains, is the terrain dangerous and difficult to cross Longshan and Baiyadong from there?If the army only carries rations and no vehicles, they should be able to enter Yuezhou Mansion over the mountain, right?
If you don't want to alarm the officers and soldiers too soon, I have considered breaking the Zhongjian Xuanfu Division and continuing to go south to attack the chieftains in the territory of Yongshun Xuanwei Division, and then go east and cross Tianmen Mountain. Go to Yuezhou through the Lishui River, or go south to Changde by the Yuanshui River, and you can go straight to Changsha in the end—Second brother, how about this plan? "

Zhang Xianzhong's remarks can only be said after he has a little understanding of geography, and it is not a "map to open up borders" in the sky.

Yuanshui and Lishui are two rivers on the west side of Dongting Lake, which will eventually flow into Dongting Lake. Among them, Lishui in the north is the largest river in Yueyang, and Yuanshui in the south is the largest river in Changde.

In Qu Yuan's poem, "Yuan has Zhi and Li has orchids, but I don't dare to say when I think about my son", saying that there are fragrant grasses such as orchids growing on the banks of these two rivers. It can be seen that they are all part of the Xiangjiang River system in a broad sense. , otherwise it would not be written into "Mrs. Xiang" by Qu Yuan.

Along these rivers, large-scale marches can be made relatively quickly.Even though Zhang Xianzhong's troops originally came from the north over the high mountains on the south bank of the Three Gorges and could not carry vehicles and boats, they could still transport personnel and supplies as long as they temporarily felled wood in the mountains and set up rafts.

As for the source of supplies, the thieves didn't need to bring too much military rations. Zhang Xianzhong had already eaten up the rations in Guizhou. He was killing people to rob food and use war to support wars, so he directly took Shizhou Wei and Yongshun Xuanwei Division. The folk food in the two places can fight.

The normal marching route of the officers and troops would be largely restricted by the food roads, but the bandits were much easier in this regard, and they could eat wherever they killed.

After listening to Li Dingguo, he already had a general understanding of what his adoptive father wanted to do: "Father thinks that...Fang Kongxuan's troops are insufficient, and he has been guarding against Yiling and Jiangling where the Yangtze River exits the gorge. prevent?
And Shen Shuren's jurisdiction only goes to Wuchang Mansion. In addition, when he was a soldier, he was only a "Hubei soldier" at the beginning. He didn't cultivate cronies in Hunan, so our army will take the opportunity to attack its emptiness? "

Of course, Zhang Xianzhong would not explain nonsense to Yizi, he just nodded casually, and then pressed: "How, are you sure?"

(End of this chapter)