Tie Mo simply did not respond. The Xuanfu army remained stationary in Luzhou Prefecture, especially the two main forces of Lengshuiguan and Nijianghe, which were almost motionless. Strange to say, the peasant army on the opposite side was also very honest. Both sides
It seems that some kind of tacit agreement has been reached.
Nanjing thought Tie Mo was dissatisfied with the price, so he sent Fei Yang to Luzhou Prefecture to talk to Tie Mo in person. However, Tie Mo ran to the Nijiang River and did not give Fei Yang a chance to meet. Fei Yang waited
Sighing in Luzhou City, he finally figured out that Tie Mo had no intention of talking about it. In this case, all Nanjing officials jointly signed a petition to Beizhili to impeach Tie Mo for his wanton behavior and disregard for the safety of the people.
In Luzhou Yamen, Ke Minxing and Fei Yang sat opposite each other. The two seemed to be chatting about something, but not about any actual issues. Ke Minxing also knew in his heart that when he decided to introduce Tie Mo, the tiger, into Nanzhili, he would
He is destined to be disliked by the officialdom of Nanzhili. Similarly, Ke Minxing also has some contempt for Fei Yang and others. They all have their eyes above their heads, as if everything is in the palm of their hands. Why don't they run over to ask others for help now?
The Xuanfu troops and the Beijing camp remained stationary, and Tie Mo even engaged in intrigues with the Southern Zhili officials, but the rogue bandits would not stop. After occupying the entire East and West Tianmu Mountains, he rested for two days and continued to work hard, before Li Zi successfully broke out of Tianmu Mountain.
, he did not rush to attack Lin'an County, but took Zheng Guosong as the vanguard, went out of the West Tianmu Mountain, and went straight to Huanghua Pass in the south. Huanghua Pass is a pass in the north of Yuqian, but it has been in disrepair and has long been abandoned. Zheng Guosong
Effortlessly, Huanghua Pass was broken, and the troops were directed at Yu Qian.
Since the peasant army attacked Tianmu Mountain, Zhejiang has panicked. On the one hand, they asked for help from Nanjing, and on the other hand, they gathered all their troops and concentrated them in important places such as Hangzhou, Lin'an, Jiaxing and Yuhang. The few troops and horses
After being transferred to Lin'an, what could Yu Qian do to resist thousands of peasant troops?
The south of the Yangtze River has been at peace for a long time, and it has not encountered a military disaster for a long time. In the past, the Japanese pirates were rampant, and they only toiled along the coast, and rarely attacked inside. However, when the peasant army attacked, the fear and pressure it brought were unimaginable.
Before the peasant army attacked the city, there was already chaos in Yu Qian City. First, the county magistrate Bao Guoxiao abandoned the city and fled, and then followed the inspection and surrendered to the enemy. When Zheng Guosong led his troops, he found that the city gate was actually open.
It turns out that some ruffians in the city took advantage of the chaos to plunder and helped open the city gate.
The whole process of attacking Yu Qian went so smoothly that Zheng Guosong couldn't believe it. At this time, Zheng Guosong also saw something. The land of plenty in the south of the Yangtze River did not necessarily breed elite soldiers who were good at fighting, but mostly cowards who were greedy for life and afraid of death.
Back in northern Shaanxi and Shanxi, it was unthinkable to attack a county town without killing or injuring a few people. After arriving in the south of the Yangtze River, they actually captured the wealthy city of Yu Qian without spending a single soldier.
With Yu Qian in his hand, Li Zicheng was not polite and directly ordered his soldiers to take control of the major shops. Then he ordered Lu Weiliang and Li Yan to join forces and approach Lin'an County along the official road near Dongtianmu Mountain. Lin'an was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty.
, what is left behind is not only a small palace, but also a prosperous business. The porcelain and silk here have always been important industries in Zhejiang. In order to protect Lin'an, Zhejiang invested more than 14,000 troops here.
More than 10,000 people are already the limit that the Zhejiang Metropolitan Command can provide. After all, they have to consider not only Lin'an, but Jiaxing and Hangzhou are more important in comparison.
Hangzhou, there is a thick layer of haze hanging over the city. Even if the warm sunshine shines on the ground, there is still no smile on the faces of pedestrians. Zhejiang Chief Envoy Division, Press Cha Division, Command Division, Salt Transportation Division and
At the prefect's Yamen, many Zhejiang officials all came to the Chief Envoy's Yamen. The current Chief Envoy Du Fushan was in his prime, in the prime of life, and could be regarded as an official. But at this time, Du Fushan no longer talked and laughed as before.
Zhejiang, this is a blessed land in the south of the Yangtze River that is on par with Su Yang, and even better than Su Yang. After serving in Zhejiang for three years, I can probably go to Beizhili and join the Sixth Ministry to take up important positions. Zhejiang is a place that everyone can ask for.
It's a great place to come. Wouldn't it be nice to stay for three or four years and go to Beijing with tens of millions of wealth? However, I never dreamed that there would be rogue bandits in this place in Zhejiang.
Bai Xuan, the commander of the capital, said with a frown on his face: "Master Du, now the bandits have launched an attack on Lin'an, and Lin'an keeps asking for reinforcements. You have to decide what to do next."
Du Fushan's eyes flashed with a cold light, but it disappeared instantly. Bai Xuan was responsible for how to fight the bandits when they entered Zhejiang, but now he came to ask Du Fushan. Is Bai Xuan incompetent? Does he really know nothing? Of course.
No, right now, whoever makes the decision takes the responsibility, and this has always been the case in officialdom. When nothing happens, everyone laughs. When something bad happens, they argue with each other, pass the blame, and think about how to take less responsibility.
Hum, Bai Xuan, what a good idea. Du Fushan thought for a while and sighed without any trace: "I don't know anything about military affairs. Commander Bai can just make up his own mind on these matters."
Bai Xuan could only curse the old fox secretly. As for the others, they even turned their heads. In short, they would never cause this trouble. Bai Xuan didn't want to let everyone cover up the matter so easily. He smiled bitterly and said: "Everyone, it's worth it."
At this moment, we are both prosperous and devastated. The city of Lin'an is destroyed, and the bandits will march eastward to Hangzhou. We must find a way. If something goes wrong in Hangzhou, Bai Xiang's head will not be saved.
There’s no benefit at all.”
At this point, Bai Xuan is already a bit threatening. Lin'an will definitely not be able to be defended. If everyone can't work together, Hangzhou may not be able to be defended. Let me, Bai, take responsibility alone, then I, Bai, will not be able to defend someone.
If one person is unhappy, he may drag everyone to hell. Bai Xuan is not a martial artist, but a hereditary native of Hangzhou. What he said is really not a joke. Bai Xuan is getting anxious.
But anything can be done.
Du Fushan and others frowned. They usually treat each other well, but at a critical moment, they don't even care about their last face. They were angry, but they had to comfort them, "Commander Bai, why should I be angry? I have called everyone here today."
Aren't you here just to think of a safe solution?"
Everyone quickly nodded in agreement, but when it comes to making decisions, how can you have a bad idea? In short, relying on these guards from Zhejiang is definitely useless. Everything depends on when the Beijing camp can rush to help. The inspector Wu Xin lowered his head and sighed bitterly,
"I don't know what's going on in Nanjing, why the Beijing camp stopped in Wuhu and hasn't moved south for a long time. The same is true for Tiemo's Xuanfu border army. If these two armies were to go south, how could the rogue bandits be so arrogant?
?”
Du Fushan knew something about the affairs of the Beijing camp and the Xuanfu army. At this time, the Nanjing side was bargaining with those people. There was no movement, and most likely the negotiation had not been finalized. This was a disaster for the Zhejiang side. The blame for this was on the Zhejiang side.
We can only blame the Nanjing Sixth Division. They forced Xu Hongji too much in the first place. Now that Xu Hongji has seized the opportunity, how can he not fight back?
There was time for wrangling in Nanjing, but Du Fushan had no time to wait. If the bandits really destroyed Hangzhou, Du Fushan's official career would be over. He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked at Wu Xin, the inspector next to him, "
Mr. Wu, you and Mr. Xu are old friends. I will trouble you to go to Wuhu this time. I hope that Mr. Xu will take care of the millions of people in Zhejiang and send troops as soon as possible to save the people of Zhejiang from the fire.
.”
Wu Xin raised his head with a complicated look on his face. It was okay to talk to Mr. Xu, but what was the use of going empty-handed? Facing Wu Xin's eyes, Du Fushan understood and quickly smiled and said: "Everyone, Xu
If Mr. Xu comes with troops, we will have to show some expression. I plan to give Mr. Xu one-third of his income tax this year for military expenses. What do you think?"
After everyone thought about it carefully, it seemed that the deal was not a loss. As long as the bandits were driven back, it would be worthwhile to pay one-third of the tax money. Although there will be dissatisfaction in Nanjing, it is not a big deal. I believe those people will understand in the end.
of.
Lin'an, just as Bai Xuan expected, under the successive attacks of the peasant army, this ancient city was in turmoil and could fall at any time. Li Yan and Lu Weiliang attacked Lin'an City from the north and south. By late November,
Liu Zongmin also led this group of troops to join the battle group.
On November 22nd of the third year of Chongzhen, at the end of the Si Shi period, Lin'an City, which had held firm for four days, finally let out a groan of pain. As the city gate collapsed, the peasant army poured into the city like a tide. The city defenders resisted,
Seeing that they were unable to recapture it, they had no choice but to abandon the city and retreat towards Yuhang. Lin'an garrison Wan Guoliang galloped on horseback, intent on hiding in Yuhang County. However, less than twenty miles away from Lin'an, bad news came from behind.
A peasant army cavalry suddenly came from the northwest. Wan Guoliang never thought that the bandits would have cavalry, so he was caught off guard by this cavalry. The defeated soldiers who escaped from Lin'an were cut off at the waist, and the situation was in chaos. Seeing this,
, this defeated army collapsed even more severely. They could not even maintain their basic formation, and they ran away one by one to the east.
It can be said that Li Zicheng is really tolerant. Since entering Southern Zhili, his cavalry of less than 3,000 people has never been seen. For a while, people in Southern Zhili had an illusion and always thought that
The rogue bandits could not afford to raise cavalry. As a result, Li Zicheng waited until the Battle of Lin'an before putting this precious cavalry into the battlefield. The cavalry charge was effective, and Wan Guoliang and his thousands of remaining soldiers fled in a hurry. This was exactly what Li Zicheng wanted.
Yes, he threw the cavalry in not to kill the defenders in the city, but to make this defeated army his vanguard.
The south of the Yangtze River is densely covered with mountains and rivers, so there are really not many places suitable for cavalry, and the vicinity of Yuhang is a good place for cavalry to gallop. The defeated soldiers fled in front, and the cavalry chased them behind. Wan Guoliang couldn't think normally in order to escape for his life.
In this way, a defeated army rushed to Yuhang. The Yuhang garrison did not think much, and opened the city gate to welcome the defeated soldiers in. However, once the city gate was opened, it could not be closed. A large number of rogue bandits came galloping over on horseback.
, they were at the bottom of the city gate in the blink of an eye. Yuhang was in chaos, so Wan Guoliang could only turn around and cooperate with the city defenders to block the cavalry back.
Li Zicheng was well prepared for this. As early as after taking Lin'an City, he ordered Li Yan to rush to Yuhang without stopping without rest. Li Yan was also very powerful. He arrived at Yuhang in time with a tired army.
Taking advantage of the city gates not being closed, they captured Yuhang County in one fell swoop.
Poor Wan Guoliang fled to Yuhang, but was kicked out again without being able to sit down and take a breath. In one day, the peasant army attacked Lin'an and Yuhang, and directed its troops towards the city of Hangzhou. This shocked the whole of Zhejiang.
Down.
With Yuhang County in hand, Li Zicheng could attack Hangzhou at any time if he wanted. But Li Zicheng did not do so. The next day, his general Tian Jianxiu led his troops eastward and launched a fierce attack on Deqing County in the northeast. Deqing
It has never been the focus of Zhejiang's military defense, and no one would think that the rogue bandits would attack Deqing instead of attacking Hangzhou. Due to various reasons, Deqing's defense was pitifully weak. When Tian Jianxiu led his troops to suddenly attack, Deqing was even defeated.
The soldiers and civilians were stunned.
As a result, one can imagine how the Deqing soldiers and civilians could resist the peasant army's attack. The peasant army, with high morale, led the charge by Tian Jianxiu, took less than an hour to set foot on the city.
When Deqing fell, Li Yan led a 10,000 peasant army to continue eastward along the road south of Deqing. The peasant army ignored Hangzhou and went directly around. At this time, the fool also understood what the rogue bandits wanted to do.
The rogue bandits are planning to abandon Hangzhou and attack Jiaxing directly.
Jiaxing, at first glance, may seem less important than Hangzhou, but all Zhejiang officials know in their hearts what Jiaxing Mansion means to the whole of Zhejiang. Jiaxing is home to Haining Yanguan Town, where there are six salt fields in Zhejiang. As long as Jiaxing is the main city, the official
The entry and exit of salt is decided by rogue bandits. There is not only official salt there, but also endless wealth. How can Jiaxing Prefecture, where there are many salt merchants, be without money?
In terms of wealth, Jiaxing is no worse than Hangzhou, but its defensive strength is far inferior to Hangzhou. Jiaxing Mansion is notoriously easy to attack and difficult to defend.
Du Fushan, the chief envoy of Zhejiang Province, could no longer sit still and sent people to ask for help. At this time, let alone one-third of the tax money, he would not give away all the tax money for the second half of this year and next year.
Say no.
...
In a simple and elegant room in Wuhu, the lights were bright, and Xu Hongji and his daughter were talking about this matter with serious expressions.
"Dad, the rogue bandits have captured Deqing now. Should we take action? If we don't take action, Zhejiang may really be in ruins. Moreover, the people have begun to talk about it and are dissatisfied with us."
"Hey, wait a little longer. As for the discussions among the people, let them say what they say. As long as we can finally drive out the bandits, these discussions will disappear!"
Xu Hongji is not in a hurry, he is just waiting. He and Tie Mo have the same idea. Once something is done, it cannot be abandoned halfway.