Although Shang Yi knew that Huang Taiji died on the ninth day of the eighth lunar month in 1643, it would take at least a month for the news to reach the Ming Dynasty.
After defeating the Western Army, capturing Hanyang Prefecture, and capturing the Western Army general Li Dingguo alive, Shang Yi dealt with the aftermath of Hanyang Prefecture on the one hand, and on the other hand, he also began to prepare to cross the river and capture Wuchang Prefecture.
At this moment, news came from another front that Zhou Shaohuan led the Second Regiment to successfully cross the Yangtze River in Qingshan Town in the north.
Qingshan Town was also where the later-famous Wuhan Iron and Steel Group built its factory. At this time, the three towns of Wuhan in later generations only formed the two regions of Wuchang and Hanyang. Hankou Town, west of the Yangtze River and north of the Han River, had just begun to develop.
, is currently under the jurisdiction of Hanyang Prefecture. The later Wuhan City was officially established in the late 1920s during the National Government's first Northern Expedition.
Although the Yangtze River generally flows from west to east, a section of the river in the Wuhan area turns to flow from south to north. The Han River flows into the Yangtze River from the west bank, forming a "T" shape that rotates ninety degrees clockwise.
, and the three towns of Wuhan are divided by this. Therefore, to cross the Yangtze River, you do not have to cross the Han River first. Crossing the river from Hanyang, there are also many ferries on the north bank of the Han River where you can cross the river.
The third and fifth regiments following Shang Yi in attacking Hanyang Prefecture, while Zhou Shaohuan's second regiment was stationed in De'an Prefecture. However, when the merchant army attacked Hanyang Prefecture, Zhou Shaohuan led his army to quietly set off from De'an Prefecture, taking advantage of the Western Army's attention.
When they were all in Hanyang in the southwest, they crossed the Yangtze River directly from Qingshan Town, north of the Han River, and arrived at Jiangdong, realizing this tactic of attacking from the east to the west.
After receiving the report, Shang Yi was very happy and immediately ordered Zhou Shaohuan to lead his army to approach Wuchang City, while his own army also crossed the river and joined the Second Regiment to attack Wuchang Mansion.
Wuhan was a city that Shang Yi had visited a lot before crossing over, so he was very familiar with the geographical environment at that time. The place he chose to cross the river was in the Baisha Prefecture area southeast of Hanyang. It is about fifteen miles away from Wuchang Fucheng.
Even if they were discovered by the Western Army, they would not have time to mobilize troops to intercept them.
Now the merchant army has more than 70 large and small ships in Hanyang Prefecture, which can transport more than 5,000 people and corresponding equipment at a time. The process of crossing the river is also very smooth. After boarding the warship, Shang Yi looked around and saw that on the Yangtze River
On the other side, no Western troops could be seen defending, so I was very relieved. At the same time, I also began to think about how to establish my own local power after taking Wuchang.
It is not unreasonable for Shang Yi to choose Wuchang Prefecture as his base. Wuhan is located in the "heart" of China's geography. In modern times, it was known as the "thorough of nine provinces", with convenient transportation and extending in all directions. Moreover, Wuhan is connected to the Yangtze River and Hanshui River.
It is dangerous, and unlike Xiangyang, which is difficult to defend and easy to attack, it will be very useful for resisting the Qing army who are not good at water warfare in the future.
And precisely because Wuhan has convenient transportation, extending in all directions, and the Yangtze River shipping, although it is located inland, even in this era, it is the largest port in the inland, so the economy is prosperous and commerce is developed. In addition, the Huguang area is now known as
The world's granary, as long as we gain a foothold here, the food problem can basically be solved. Moreover, Daye in Wuchang is also rich in iron ore.
While Shang Yi was sitting in the cabin meditating, Cheng Jin suddenly walked in and said, "Sir, come out and see. It seems that there is a fire in Wuchang City."
Shang Yi was startled, and hurriedly followed him out of the cabin. On the deck of the ship, many soldiers were looking toward the northeast. Shang Yi looked up, and sure enough, under the clear sky, it was very clear that the direction of Wuchang Mansion was
A large amount of black smoke rose up and filled the sky. Shang Yi couldn't help but be shocked. If it could be seen from here, then the fire in Wuchang City must have been huge, and maybe the whole city was burned.
Seeing this, Shang Yi was stunned for a moment, but he immediately understood that this must be Zhang Xianzhong preparing to evacuate Wuchang Mansion, and before evacuating, he set a fire and planned to burn down the entire Wuchang Mansion. This kind of thing
Zhang Xianzhong had done this many times. At this time, Shang Yi also regretted that he still didn't think carefully enough. With Zhang Xianzhong's reputation in history, he should have thought of this earlier, so he shouldn't have entangled himself in Hanyang Mansion.
Instead, they should cross the Yangtze River as quickly as possible and approach Wuchang Prefecture. This forced Zhang Xianzhong to have no time to take action.
But at this point, it was too late to regret, so Shang Yi had no choice but to order the boatman to sail quickly and rush to the other side as soon as possible so that he could rush to Wuchang Mansion to put out the fire, hoping to minimize the losses.
It turned out that Zhang Xianzhong sent Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo as the front troops to Hanyang Mansion to fight against Shang Yi. He also organized the army and prepared to set off. But at this time, he received a report from spies and learned that a merchant army was crossing the river from Qingshan.
Arrived in Jiangdong.
Zhang Xianzhong couldn't help being surprised. He never expected that the Merchant Army, which only had more than 10,000 people in total, would actually divide its forces into two groups to cross the river, using the tactic of attacking from the east and attacking from the west. Therefore, he quickly sent Liu Wenxiu to lead 20,000 troops to eliminate the people who crossed the river.
Merchant Army.
But it was too late now. Zhou Shaohuan had already set up a defensive position in Qingshan Town. After Liu Wenxiu led his army to Qingshan, he led his army to launch an attack. As a result, he was beaten in front of the Merchant Army's position and suffered numerous casualties.
However, Zhou Shaohuan seized the opportunity and launched a counterattack, killing Liu Wenxiu and defeating him. He dispersed 6,000 troops and fled back to Wuchang City.
When Zhang Xianzhong saw Liu Wenxiu return defeated, he was shocked and angry. He was about to send out another army to attack Qingshan Town. At this time, Sun Kewang also fled back to Wuchang Prefecture from Hanyang. What was left of the 30,000 troops he brought with him was actually
There were less than 3,000 people, and even Li Dingguo didn't know whether he was alive or dead. Some of the defeated soldiers said that they were captured by the merchant army, and they were probably in danger.
At the same time, Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiu both described the terror of the Merchant Army: they were good at using firearms to fight, they could shoot extremely far, their continuous fire rate was very fast, and they were very sharp, making them difficult to guard against and impossible to resist.
Although Zhang Xianzhong found it hard to believe what they said, the facts were clear. The two armies suffered a disastrous defeat at the same time, and they were defeated by an enemy army whose numbers were far smaller than his own. Zhang Xianzhong had no choice but to believe it. At this time, Zhang Xianzhong finally understood something.
, why did Li Zicheng have such a strong army and strong horses, but he was defeated by the Ming army and fled north. Obviously, he was no match.
Therefore, although Zhang Xianzhong was reluctant to live a comfortable life in Wuchang, he had to fall back on his old trick of running away when trouble came. However, his troops were south of the Yangtze River and did not dare to risk crossing the river to the north, so he had to
Fleeing south. So Zhang Xianzhong ordered Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiu to escort the stolen money, grain and materials from Wuchang Prefecture to Dazhi County. He then led the army to retreat, preparing to develop into the Anhui and Jiangxi areas. If there was an opportunity,
It is also possible to attack Nanjing. After retreating, he set fires everywhere in Wuchang City, burning the whole city to the ground. Then he allowed Aiqi to lead 20,000 horses to cut off the rear.
When Shang Yi led his troops across the Yangtze River and arrived at Wuchang Mansion, he saw four gates wide open and the whole city was on fire. There were fires everywhere in the city, the red flames were dazzling, the heat wave was overwhelming, and the smoke was thick.
, and countless people died in the sea of fire, and the sound of crying was endless, just like the Asura hell, it was too miserable to watch.
When Shang Yi saw this, he was shocked and angry, but he had nothing to do, so he had to order the third regiment to guard the city outside the city, and he directed the fifth regiment and the auxiliary troops to go into the city to put out the fire. He would save as much as he could.
Fortunately, the Merchant Army arrived just in time, and the area of Wuchang City was not small. Except for a few central areas where fires were lit, there were many places that had been on fire, but the fires had not yet started burning. Such as Gao Jishi
After putting out the fire, some places could still be saved. In Wuchang City, there were still many people left. When they saw the army coming to help put out the fire, they all took action. When the merchant army saw that the people had gathered, they also took the initiative to step forward and take command.
.
With the command of the Merchant Army, fire-fighting and rescue operations have changed from chaos to order, so the efficiency of fire-fighting has also been greatly improved. With the concerted efforts of the military and civilians, the flames in many places have been extinguished and many rescued people have been rescued.
Many people were besieged by the fire.
At this moment, Zhou Shaohuan led the Second Regiment to Wuchang City. After the two armies merged, Zhou Shaohuan reported to Shang Yi that the Western Army was fleeing to the southeast. After Shang Yi learned about it, he immediately understood Zhang Xianzhong's intention.
, immediately ordered Zhou Shaohuan to lead the Second Regiment to pursue the Western Army and stationed in Fankou County. He must severely attack Zhang Xianzhong. And after catching up with Zhang Xianzhong, he must not let go easily. He continued to beat Zhang Xianzhong until he was disabled.
After Zhou Shaohuan led the army away, Shang Yi immediately threw himself into putting out the fire. Although the flames in some places were now extinguished, Wuchang City covers a large area, and most of the places put out were peripheral areas. From the center of the fire, to
After it burned, Shang Yi also knew that without modern fire-fighting methods, it was almost impossible to put out the fire. Unless it rained heavily at this time, the fire would have to wait until it was completely burned out before the fire was extinguished.
However, although Shang Yi is not a firefighter, as a modern person, after all, he knows some basic fire-fighting common sense. Even if a fire cannot be extinguished, it must be restricted, otherwise the fire will only gradually spread and burn more and more widely.
, even places where ancient scriptures have been extinguished will resurrect.
Therefore, Shang Yi divided the people into two groups. One group went to extinguish the areas with smaller fires, while the other group cleared the areas with larger fires and separated them to prevent the fire from spreading further. At the same time, he ordered people to stay outside the city.
Temporary tents were set up to accommodate the elderly, the weak, women and children, as well as civilians and soldiers injured in the fire, and were provided with medical treatment.
But despite the best efforts of the merchant army and the people, it took three days until the fire in Wuchang City was completely extinguished. The entire Wuchang City was in ruins.