Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 534
Starting from the end of June, Jiangxi and the Jiangnan Qing army launched a unique battle. Unlike before, the purpose of the two parties was not to capture the city, but to focus on summer grain.

Raozhou Prefecture, Jiangxi, borders on Poyang Lake in the west and Jiangnan in the east.

Every year in Gandi, Raozhou ranks among the top in taxation and grain collection. However, after more than two years of war, plus it is located on the front line of the Anti-Qing Dynasty, the people fled, so seven out of ten rooms are empty.

After Wang Yanquan returned to Jiangxi, the Ming army lived here with heavy troops. Governor Jiang Yueguang saw that the fields were deserted, so he distributed the uncultivated fields to the soldiers and the people who stayed in Raozhou Prefecture for cultivation.

As of now, it is the harvest season, and seeing the rice fields makes people feel at ease.On the fields, there were crowds of people, and the left-behind people and the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers were busy in the fields, waving their sickles.These people have an orderly division of labor, some are responsible for harvesting, and some are responsible for transportation.On the ridge of the field, there was an endless stream of men and women carrying grain, and the heavy grain weighed on them, flashing and blinking, making cheerful creaking sounds.

In order to fight for time, the Ming army used a large number of vehicles, and even led the horses to haul them. After the harvested rice was left with enough rations, it was all transported to the rear.

Why are you in such a hurry?Jin Shengheng attacked everywhere and burned food everywhere in the south of the Yangtze River. If the Qing army can't get frustrated, they will definitely come to retaliate.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Jiang Yueguang finally settled his mind. As long as the food is harvested, Jiangxi will recover a bit of vitality. Can't keep Jiangxi?
"Be sure to hurry up. Raozhou is located on the front line. The Hong bandits were going to send troops in June to burn, kill and loot, but Jindu town disrupted their deployment. Now we have to collect the food before the Qing soldiers attack."

Ever since he received the secret report from the Tiandihui that the bandits planned to cooperate with the Qing soldiers in Sichuan and launch a general attack on Chu and Jiangxi, Jiang Riguang was worried, most afraid that Xiashou would be destroyed by the Qing soldiers.

Jiangxi has been beaten for more than two years, and it was basically destroyed. At the end of last year, the grain storage was cut off. Fortunately, he and Wanji reopened the mine in Fuzhou, reopened the official kiln in Jingdezhen, and exchanged it from Duyinxi through trade. There is a lot of food, and there is no food shortage in Jiangxi.

At present, the 800 million elders in Jiangxi are all eagerly looking forward to Xia Harvest, so Jiang Riguang attaches great importance to it, and specially came from Nanchang to supervise the harvest.

The Ming general Wang Deren on the side listened to Jiang Yueguang's instructions, and seeing that the summer grain harvest was coming to an end, he was full of confidence, "Futai can rest assured that once the grain is harvested, the army will have more than enough to eat. If the bandits dare to lead troops to attack, In the end, the general will definitely kill the Qing army without leaving any armor, and will not let the Qing army go deep into the Jiangxi border to destroy."

Jiangxi is in urgent need of recuperation, so the defensive strategy of Jiangxi this time is to first use offense instead of defense, take the initiative to attack and burn the rice fields in the south of the Yangtze River, and then try to keep the Qing army in the Raozhou and Guangxin areas as much as possible, and in the defense, Actively seek fighters to destroy the enemy.

The deployment of the Ming army in Jiangxi was divided into three parts. Wang Deren stationed another 1 people in Raozhou, Jin Shengheng 3 people guarded Guangxin, and Sun Shoufa 3 people stationed in Nanchang.

In this way, if the Qing army advances along the river, Wang Deren can resist steadily and take the initiative to retreat and lead the Qing soldiers to pursue. All the Qing soldiers in Raozhou were wiped out.

The Jiangxi Ming army was fully prepared for the upcoming war.

"Let's go back to the city." Jiang Riguang rode his horse and inspected the fields for a while, then turned his horse's head and ran towards the city. , Hearing the movement, he raised his head to take a look, and then buried his head in the field, working hard to harvest.

The team galloped for a while, and Jiang Riguang suddenly noticed that the soldiers working in the fields straightened up and looked east. At first, he thought they had bent down for a long time, and the soldiers moved their lumbar spine, but they didn't care.

But gradually he realized that something was wrong. On the rice fields on both sides of the post road, it seemed that everyone had stopped working and looked east.

Puzzled, he slowed down his horse and looked back, and saw pillars of smoke shooting up into the sky in the wilderness to the east, one after another coming from the far east sky to the west.

Everyone hastily reined in their horses, and Wang Deren stared at Dongfang with a serious look on his face, "Futai, the Qing army has invaded."

At the end of June, the generals Zhang Mingzhen and Zhang Huangyan under Lu Jianguo in Zhoushan went to the east of Zhejiang Province and went south to the coast to grab grain. Widely believed.

The Ming army in Gandi and Lu Jianguo cooperated beautifully without any discussion. Hong Chengchou and Duoduo were shameless. After the order of the Qing court was issued, they immediately sent troops westward and entered Chu and Jiangxi.

At the beginning of July, the Jiangnan Qing army divided into two groups. Man Dahai led 5 horses and attacked Jiangxi along the south bank of the Yangtze River and went straight to Raozhou.

Duoduo personally led 10 horses and marched into Huguang from the north bank of the Yangtze River. The Ming general Liu Chengyin who guarded Qizhou fled without a fight. However, King Jing was killed, Yi Daosan, the owner of Baiyun Village, and Wang Guangshu, the owner of Daqi Village, were killed in battle.

The Qing army took advantage of the situation to take the counties of Huangzhou lightly, and the army approached Wuchang. Chu and Jiangxi were shaken. Xiangfan Hao Yaoqi also received news that King Kong Youde and Shang Kexi Liangshun led 8 horses and marched south from Xinye to attack Xiangyang.

The mountain rain was about to come and the wind filled the building, and the cloud of war suddenly enveloped the land of Chu and Jiangxi, making people breathless.

Just when He Tengjiao was panicking, news came from Hunan again. Du Yinxi wrote a secret letter to inform He Tengjiao that Zhang Xianbi and Huang Chaoxuan were to be executed. He said that the illness would not go away, and asked He Tengjiao to be on guard against this person.

After receiving the letter, He Tengjiao's liver and gallbladder were broken, and he hurriedly led Ma Jinzhong and Wang Jincai back to Wuchang. At this time, the Qing soldiers had already arrived at Huanggang.

At that time, He Tengjiao mobilized a large number of troops from the eastern front, preparing to march westward to Hanzhong, and completely defeated Meng Qiaofang, the governor of Shaanxi in the Qing court. The remaining troops on the eastern front were very limited.

After He Tengjiao received the news from the Tiandihui, although he stopped adding troops to Hanzhong, he did not immediately deploy defenses on the Eastern Front. He was a little hesitant in his actions. He wanted to expand the results of Hanzhong, but he was also worried about the Eastern Front, resulting in a passive situation. .

At this time, Ming general Liu Chengyin fled back to Wuchang again after retreating from Qizhou without a fight. Only Chen Youlong and his troops remained in Huanggang, with a very limited force.

(Thanks to Huamancheng 66, Chu Muyu, Xu Wenting, Stress Strawberry for the monthly pass, and thanks to Avalon Xinlu for the tip)
(End of this chapter)