Both the Western Army and the Ming Army were actively preparing for a decisive battle to defeat the main forces of the opposing side in one fell swoop. Vertex updates are the fastest

For Chen Yue, he knew that the Western Thieves were extremely mobile, and he didn't have the patience to chase the Western Thieves' butts everywhere to suppress the bandits, so he captured Hukou and laid down Jiujiang and forced the Western Army to fight a decisive battle, even if his own troops were insufficient now.

For Zhang Xianzhong, after defeating Chen Yue, the first general of the Puppet Ming Dynasty, and his army, the Puppet Ming General was no longer able to stop the pace of the Western Army, and the capture of Nanjing and the destruction of the Ming Dynasty were just around the corner. At that time, he will become the real emperor, although Li Zicheng has conquered Beijing, what is it compared to himself!

Both sides have the heart of a decisive battle, so it is natural to dispatch troops to accumulate grass and grain, and the decisive battle will not be fought in a short time. According to the whole of Jiangxi, Zhang Xianzhong's manpower and material resources are not lacking, and there are 100,000 troops led by Zhang Dingguo who can come to the aid at any time, and he is full of confidence in defeating the Ming army.

However, in Ji'an Mansion, which Zhang Xianzhong ignored, a storm was brewing, a storm that could affect the direction of the war and threaten the rear of the Western Army.

In this era, if you talk about the strongest ability to defend the city, it must be Yan Yingyuan. In another time and space, relying on the help of a group of gentry and servants, Yan Yingyuan led the people of Jiangyin to defend Jiangyin for 81 days under the siege of hundreds of thousands of Manchu troops.

Green battalion soldiers Liu Liangzuo and Li Chengdong, Eight Banner soldiers Li Shutai and Boluo took turns to fight, but they were unable to take Jiangyin, and finally had to transfer dozens of red-coated cannons from Nanjing to blast open the walls of Jiangyin, and Jiangyin fell.

And now, there is no siege weapon such as a red-coated cannon in the Western Army, so after Zhang Nengqi, the general of Dingbei of the Western Army, and even Zhang Xianzhong personally led his troops to attack for half a month, the city of Ji'an was still safe and sound.

The Ming army suddenly attacked Jiangxi and captured Hukou, and Zhang Xianzhong had to lead his troops to evacuate Ji'an. And Ji'an Mansion has become the only city in Jiangxi that has not been breached by the thief army.

Successfully defending Ji'an, the merit of Bo Yan Yingyuan, the lord of Luling County, is in the eyes of the military and civilians of the city, and his prestige has surpassed Li Bo of Luling County and Ma Shoude, the prefect of Ji'an. When encountering things, the generals and the people in the city would rather go to Yan Yingyuan, the master of the nine grades, to deal with it, rather than go to the prefect and county magistrate to solve it, which can be seen from this point Yan Yingyuan's prestige in the hearts of the soldiers and people in the city.

Although Ma Shoude, the prefect of Ji'an, was uncomfortable, he also knew that he was far inferior to Yan Yingyuan in terms of his ability to handle military affairs, so he wantonly delegated his power and let Yan Yingyuan handle Yiyingyuan's affairs.

The thief army retreated suddenly, and there must be a reason for it, Yan Yingyuan did not dare to slack off, and sent a large number of soldiers out of the city as spies to investigate the movements of the thief army. These officers are all local snakes, familiar with the local geography and people, and are most suitable to be used as sentry agents in disguise. However, in order to arouse their courage so that they would not be perfunctory, Yan Yingyuan offered a very generous reward.

The sentinels soon sent back the news that the main force of the thief army had retreated in the direction of Nanchang Mansion, not only the main force retreated, but the thief army from other states and counties also retreated mostly, leaving only part of the troops to defend the city. Moreover, a large amount of materials are being transported by the thief army in the direction of Nanchang.

Based on the intelligence of all parties, Yan Yingyuan quickly concluded that something must have happened for the thief army to retreat. Perhaps the imperial court had sent an army to attack the thief army to recover Jiangxi, and the thief army was in a hurry to meet the imperial army, so they had to retreat.

The thief army withdrew, and Ji'an Mansion naturally couldn't watch it, so something had to be done. Yan Yingyuan then suggested to the prefect Ma Shoude Zhixian Li Bo that he send troops to attack the thief army and disrupt the pace of its retreat, so as to contain the thief army and respond to the imperial army.

"Are you crazy? How many troops do we have in Ji'an Mansion, and it is not enough to defend the city, how can we have the ability to fight against hundreds of thousands of thieves? Li Bo, the magistrate of Luling, was shocked when he heard this, and angrily reprimanded his subordinate.

Ma Shoude, the prefect of Ji'an, opened his eyelids, lowered his eyes and drank tea by himself, but did not speak.

"At the beginning, the thief army was very anxious to attack the city, thinking that you have some skills, and the Fuzun handed over the military power of the whole city to you, you must not ignorance of the height of the sky, and cause chaos to lead to the fall of Ji'an and harm the people of the city!"

Although Yan Yingyuan has made great contributions, in the eyes of Li Bo, who was born as a jinshi, this miscellaneous official who was promoted from the official is nothing at all, coupled with the jealousy of Yan Yingyuan's achievements, Li Bo spoke in a loud voice and was unceremoniously, and the prefect Ma Shoude, who listened, sighed secretly.

Ma Shoude and Li Botang, the prefect of the county, were frightened one by one when the thieves attacked, and they had to rely on Yan Yingyuan, a nine-grade master, to support them to keep Ji'an Mansion from losing, and it was really a shame to say it. But compared with the young and unbearable Li Bo, Ma Shoude is even more cunning and cunning.

Ma Shoude knew that Yan Yingyuan's merits could not be concealed at all, coupled with his prestige in the hearts of the people in the city, he could not suppress it at this time, otherwise he would inevitably ruin his reputation.

Moreover, Yan Yingyuan guarded the Ji'an Mansion, and his own mansion at least knew people and was good at co-ordinating, and he would also be rewarded by the imperial court, from this aspect, Yan Yingyuan helped him a lot. No matter how unpleasant he is, he can't add up to his ill words.

"What Lord Yan said is not unreasonable," Ma Shoude suddenly spoke up, stopping Li Bo from continuing to speak ill of each other, "We can't just take care of Ji'an City, but also focus on the overall situation of the entire Jiangxi anti-thief situation." If the imperial court is defeated and the whole of Jiangxi falls, how can Ji'an survive alone? ”

"Fuzun!" Li Bo was suddenly anxious, and when he wanted to argue, Ma Shoude waved his hand to stop him from continuing to speak.

However, Li Zhixian's worries are not unreasonable, Ji'an Mansion has a total of only 3,000 troops, and it is all up to the people of the city to help them to defend the city. But there are hundreds of thousands of thieves outside, and it is even more difficult to do something with our little strength. ”

"Lord Fuzun," Yan Yingyuan bowed his hand, and when he wanted to argue, he was also stopped by Ma Shoude.

"Lord Yan, please listen to what this mansion has said, I have no objection to you leading troops out of the city, because the overall situation is also in this mansion, but you must first defend Ji'an. Therefore, this government cannot give you too many people, at most a thousand soldiers. Have you seen enough? ”

After Ma Shoude finished speaking, he looked at Yan Yingyuan quietly.

A thousand people, Yan Yingyuan frowned in embarrassment, there are hundreds of thousands of troops outside, what can a thousand people do? But looking at Li Bo, who strongly opposed the dispatch of troops, and Ma Shoude, who looked firm, Yan Yingyuan knew that these 1,000 people were already Ma Shoude's bottom line.

"Yes," Yan Yingyuan gritted his teeth and said, "However, these thousand people must be gathered and selected by their subordinates, and the weapons and grain mansion must be fully equipped." ”

"Of course, these thousand people are also my Ji'an's disciples, and there will naturally be no shortage of money and food for soldiers." Ma Shoude stroked his beard and smiled.