The weather in April is a changeable season, the sky is still clear, and in the blink of an eye, it has entered a continuous spring rain.

Along the official road of the Yangtze River, grain trucks covered with tarpaulins, carts loaded with wheat straw and hay, baggage carts, and huge flat-bottomed boats swayed and creaked forward along the Yangtze River.

The sky was drizzling, it was the rainy season in the south of the Yangtze River, the fields and ditches on both sides of the official road were full of rain, and the dense forests and mountains in the distance were hazy.

At this time, an army under the banner of the Ming army was marching on the mud, braving the drizzle, accompanied by shouts and curses, mixed with the crackling of leather whips and the creak of axles, advancing westward with astonishing momentum.

The soldiers wearing hats and robes, let the rain slip from their bodies, but still followed the trumpet, walked neatly, and walked silently, looking extremely elite.

Suddenly, there was a commotion on the official road, and a cavalry team of several hundred men galloped from the east.

The horses' hooves trampled through the mud, splashing large sums of sewage, and several soldiers could not dodge, their bodies and faces were splashed with mud, but the soldiers continued to walk in the mud with their heads bowed as if nothing had happened.

The cavalry, surrounded by an armored general, galloped past the foot soldiers, and only overtook the advancing ranks, then they grabbed the reins and came to a sharp halt.

The war horse neighed, the front hooves hung in the air, and more than 100 elite horsemen instantly stood still, looking extremely elite.

"Li Qianhu, how long will it take to go to Chizhou?" Wang Yan's face was covered with rain, and he and many officers stopped urgently, pointed to the west with a horsewhip in his hand and asked.

Most of Wang Yan's cronies are from the North, and they don't know much about the land south of the Yangtze River, so the task of pathfinding and reconnaissance fell on Li Taizhen, who was born in Orion. "There are still more than 100 miles, the road is difficult to travel, and it should be possible to reach it within three days."

"It's too slow! The Qing army approached Xu and Si, and the left thief broke through Anqing and entered Chizhou, so we must arrive as soon as possible to help Jingnan Hou break the left thief, and then return to Jiangbei to meet the Qing army. Hearing this, Wang Yan couldn't help frowning slightly, and then waved his horsewhip and walked forward in the rain again.

After reorganizing military discipline in Sizhou, Wang Yan led the army south that day.

Wang Yan originally wanted to spend a few days reorganizing the Zhongyi Battalion, but with Zuo Liangyu trapped Jiujiang, Jiang Governor Yuan Jixian could not find death and was taken captive into the boat, so he had to reorganize the Zhongyi Battalion while marching.

The six hundred households who were killed were all taken by the brothers of the old camp, Wang Wei and Li Taizhen were transferred, and he equipped all the transfer equipment of Mrs. Xing.

The infantry was more than 1,100 men, leaving 400 spearmen and 100 sword and shield men, and the rest were all armed with firearms, and the cavalry was equipped with bows and arrows, long knives, small shields, and spears.

The army practiced while walking, starting from the marching queue, and before he knew it, he walked to the riverside, Wang Yan hurriedly sent men and horses to requisition ships, buy grain and grass, and spent three thousand taels of silver after a while. 50,000 taels of opening fee, only 20,000 taels remained.

Just when Wang Yan was ready to swim upstream, news came that Zuo Liangyu died violently three days after taking Jiujiang.

Zuo Liangyu has 800,000 soldiers, although the real soldiers are only about 200,000, but it is enough to make Hongguang Dynasty feel extremely pressure, he died in Jiujiang, whether it is Hongguang Dynasty or Wang Yan can't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

As a result, the Zhongyi Battalion slowed down its westward advance, but only one day later, Zuo Mengeng, the son of Zuo Liangyu, was promoted to the left army to stay behind, and the news that he continued to lead the troops eastward pulled Hongguang Dynasty back to the cruel reality.

Wang Yan had to urge the Zhongyi battalion to march west as soon as possible to support Chizhou, but the disaster was not a single line, the army had just arrived in Wuhu, and the Qing army in Henan, under the leadership of Duoduo, crossed Shangqiu and approached the Sizhou line, and the Qing army in Shandong was led by Gushan Ezhen Zhun Tower, and the news of going south to Xuzhou was passed on.

Wang Yan was struck by lightning for a while, and what he was most worried about still happened.

In the city of Nanjing, the Hongguang courtiers had to suffer the bitter fruit of "Lianyu Pingkou" at this time, because they did not dare to send heavy troops north to Shandong and Henan, and the strategic space was lost.

At the critical juncture when the rebels on the left were advancing into Chizhou and the Qing troops were marching south, the emperor had completely fallen into passivity, so he had to issue an edict: "If the upstream is urgent, then go upstream, and if the enemy is urgent, then resist the enemy." ”

The emperor, Ma Fu, and Ruan Dacheng all understood that no matter how much they concentrated their forces against either side, Nanjing was in danger of falling.

In this regard, Wang Yan also thought that he had countless nightmares in his dreams, the Qing soldiers went south to the south of the Yangtze River, and they really appeared like this, but at this time, the Zhongyi Battalion was already in the south of the Yangtze River, and it was impossible to return to Jiangbei, so he could only hope that Gao Yuanzhao and Liu Zeqing could carry the people and horses for a while longer, and he first followed Jingnan Hou Huang Degong to defeat the left thief, and then returned north with the army to fight with the Qing army.

In desperation, Wang Yan urged the Zhongyi battalion to brave the rain and finally arrived outside Chizhou on April 10.

Chizhou is located in the south of the Yangtze River, east of Tongling, south of Huangshan, and Anqing across the river, after the left army captured Anqing, Chizhou will be the city of the upper reaches of Nanjing, the most important line of defense.

At this time, 800,000 left troops camped in the west of Chizhou along the Yangtze River, stretching for dozens of miles, and nearly 100,000 Ming troops were also gathered in Chizhou City to fight a decisive battle.

The left army had many ships and ships, and Wang Yan could not advance along the west of the river, so he left the supplies and Qian Yifeng in Tongling, and the men and horses bypassed the left army on the river and made a detour into the mountains and forests south of Chizhou.

At this time, on the hill not far from Chizhou City, there were several people standing, led by Wang Yan, and behind him stood Wang Wei, Li Taizhen, Liu Shun and other officers, and behind the hill were two thousand loyal battalion men.

There were 100,000 Ming troops in Chizhou City, and Wang Yan felt that even if his 2,000 men and horses entered the city, they would not have much effect on defense, but it was better to play the role of 1,000 cavalry in his hands, and maybe he could find unexpected military exploits.

The hill is not far from Chizhou City, and you can have a panoramic view of the situation within a radius of several miles.

Wang Yan looked at the blurred outline of the city wall in the distance, looked at the flags and broken shields and arrows scattered not far from the hill, and knew that there had been several fierce battles under the city.

Nearly a million troops, gathered near Chizhou to fight, the scene should be so spectacular, looking at the bright flag still fluttering at the head of the city, Wang Yan knew that he came at the right time.

"It has been raining for days, and although the sky is sunny today, the ground and the forest are quite damp, and the gunpowder can be preserved?" Wang Yan asked while looking at Chizhou.

"General Fangxin, gunpowder is the most important thing in the infantry camp, and the last general has already ordered it properly, and there will be no loss." Wang Wei hugged his fists in response.

In order to master the foot soldiers, Wang Yan dropped Wang Wei to the infantry army to do a thousand households, and Li Taizhen was dropped to the cavalry camp, and the cavalry camp was mostly old people who followed Wang Yan, which happened to raise him in the air.

At first, Wang Wei was quite emotional about this, but after Wang Yan talked with him, he knew that Wang Yan trusted him, so he was relieved to be a thousand households in the starting army, and painstakingly studied the infantry tactics mentioned by Wang Yan, and Li Taizhen also gladly accepted Wang Yan's arrangement and took charge of the cavalry.

Wang Wei used to be just a small officer under Zhao Yingyuan, but Li Taizhen relied on his hard work to achieve a thousand households, and he was born in Orion, and after taking refuge in Gao Jie, he also did the work of exploring horses, and he had a lot of research on cavalry tactics, and he was really the best cavalry general candidate in the Zhongyi Battalion.

Wang Yan was very satisfied with the performance of the two and saved him a lot of trouble.

"That's great!" Wang Yan glanced at Wang Wei approvingly, and then turned around and said to many officers: "The battle of Chizhou is related to the life and death of our dynasty. You are willing to kill thieves with me, serve the court, and face the loyal battalion commander! ”

"I am willing to fight to the death with the general!" Hearing this, all the officers immediately replied in unison.

After this run-in, the Zhongyi battalion has a bit of a strong army, Wang Yan pressed the sword in his hand, infected by the atmosphere, and couldn't help but have a sense of pride in his heart, he was determined to defeat the left army and protect the Ming Dynasty.

~Woo~Woo~Woo~

Just as Wang Yan and the others were standing on the top of the mountain to observe the terrain, from a distant place in the west, there were suddenly bursts of fluttering horn sounds.

When Wang Yan and everyone heard this, they couldn't help but look to the west, their faces couldn't help but change in unison, and they couldn't help but say: "It's here!" ”

It was also at this time that a scout horse rushed to the foot of the mountain, then turned over and dismounted, and hurriedly ran down the mountain, and after a while, he knelt down on one knee in front of Wang Yan, panting and shouting: "General Qiyu! The left thief army is five miles away from Chizhou! ”

You don't have to look for a horse, everyone can see it.

Far away in the west, as far as the eye can see, a long red line behind the horizon appears in front of everyone.

Slowly, as the red line moved forward, it continued to thicken and widen, making the plain to the west of Chizhou City feel like a red carpet.

The left part is claimed to be 800,000 people, and Wang Yan can't count how many people have come this time, but he sees him coming all over the mountains, and the rebels on the left are almost about to dye the land in the west red.

"So many soldiers!" Looking at the leftist army with no end in sight, Wang Yan and the others couldn't help but gasp, this was the first time he saw a large group fighting, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous, and his palms began to sweat.

There were so many rebels, which made Wang Yan's heart tighten, as the chief general, he couldn't let his subordinates feel his nervousness, so after calming down, he said to the officers around him seriously: "Quickly hide and wait for the opportunity!" ”

"Whoa!" The crowd hurriedly replied in unison.

At this moment, Wang Yan let Qian Yifeng's seventeen military regulations play a role, in the face of the upcoming rebels, it is impossible for the soldiers and officers not to be nervous and afraid, but the military regulations made them calm down, and the two thousand men and horses under the mountain were under the command of the officers, and soon died down, with a trace of elite.

As the rebels approached Chizhou, Wang Yan also led many officers to move to a hidden place to continue to observe.

(Yuan Jixian was betrayed by the general Zhang Shixun when the left thief soldiers arrived in Jiujiang, and he couldn't beg for death, and was captured by Zuo Liangyu in the boat, after Zuo Mengeng surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Jixian met the Qing King Azig, and he did not worship for a long time, and Azig strongly persuaded him to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, "still be the governor of Jiujiang", but was categorically refused, and then escorted to Beijing, and bravely took justice.) ）