There are many mountains and rivers in Jiangxi, except for a large area of flat land in Nanchang on the shore of Poyang Lake, surrounded by continuous mountains and rivers that meander and rush from the mountains.

Therefore, most of the prefectures and counties in Jiangxi Province are built next to the river, especially in the surrounding mountainous areas, and the traffic usually relies more on waterways. Although there are also mountain roads, it is too difficult to rely on mountain roads for bulk material transportation, and it must rely on rivers.

Although Ji'an and Yuanzhou are adjacent to each other, they are separated by mountains such as Wugong Mountain and Yangshan Mountain, and a small number of people can cross the mountains along the rugged and difficult mountain roads, which is difficult for a large army to overcome.

Therefore, the western thieves did not prevent the Ming army from attacking from Ji'an Mansion at all, and there were very few troops stationed in Yuanzhou Mansion. Most of the army was transferred to Linjiang Mansion in the lower reaches of the Yuan River to block the Ming army's attack down the Gan River.

Yan Yingyuan's soldiers made a dangerous move, using a large army to involve the strength of the thief army in Xiajiang County, Linjiang Prefecture, and he crossed the Wugong Mountain with more than 10,000 troops lightly, and suddenly captured the weak Yuanzhou City, so that the thief army formed a two-sided attack.

According to Yan Yingyuan's plan, after occupying Yuanzhou City, he will divide his troops to capture other states and counties in Yuanzhou Prefecture, mobilize the squires and people loyal to the Ming Dynasty, recruit troops, accumulate strength, and then attack down the Yuan River, and have a decisive battle with the thief army Feng Shuangli Department of Linjiang Mansion.

Although the thief army occupied Yuanzhou, but because the time was too short, it was too late to occupy all the towns and villages, and most of the people in the surrounding mountains still thought that the people of the Ming Dynasty had blocked them from the bandits, and as long as they launched a little, they could recruit a large number of soldiers.

Because Feng Shuangli's army in Linjiang had an army of 50,000, Yan Yingyuan was unwilling to fight with it without accumulating enough strength.

However, the arrival of Liu Neng and his entourage made the decisive battle between Yan Yingyuan and Feng Shuangli immediately advanced. First, the order from Chen Yue, the Duke of Qi in the five provinces, the battle in Jiujiang has reached a tragic situation, and Yan Yingyuan is needed to contain some of the troops of the thief army. Then there was a large number of special weapons carried by Liu Neng and his entourage, which made Yan Yingyuan full of confidence in defeating Feng Shuangli.

Each brother carried ten of them, and did not throw away any of them, even when they climbed over the mountains. Five thousand grenades are enough to help Lord Yan win a battle. Liu Neng said proudly.

And looking at the great power of the grenade when it exploded, the straw man within five steps was blown up, Yan Yingyuan couldn't help but gasp, he could imagine how much damage the enemy would cause when the enemy and us were fighting in a short battle, a large number of grenades fell from the sky.

"With such a sharp weapon, why not be afraid of a thief!" Yan Yingyuan said resolutely.

At that moment, Yan Yingyuan withdrew the troops that had been separated, regrouped, and marched along the Yuan River to Linjiang Mansion.

Yan Yingyuan collected a large number of fishing boats and ferries to carry troops, and marched along the land and water of the Yuanjiang River, and attacked Xinyu County in Linjiang Prefecture three days later.

There were only hundreds of thieves stationed in Xinyu County, and in the face of the attacking tens of thousands of Ming troops, the thieves did not dare to resist at all, and abandoned the city and fled. The soldiers captured Xinyu without blood, Yan Yingyuan did not stop, and immediately led his troops to continue the attack.

It is only one hundred and twenty miles from Xinyu County to Linjiang Prefecture to govern Qingjiang County, the terrain is gradually flattened, the Yuan River enters the Linjiang River and is also called Yushui, the Yushui rushes out from the mountains, the water flow gradually flattens, and flows into the Ganjiang River in Qingjiang County.

Although the army along the river was comfortable, but the speed was too slow, Yan Yingyuan ordered most of the army to go ashore and rush to Linjiang Fucheng along the official road, and the supplies and baggage were carried by boat and slowly followed behind.

More than 10,000 troops were divided into three parts by Yan Yingyuan, he personally led 3,000 soldiers and 1,000 grenades to march lightly, Liu Neng led the rest of the brigade to follow closely, and the rest of the baggage slowly advanced along the Yushui waterway.

Yan Yingyuan's 3,000 soldiers are all mountain people in the countryside of Ji'an Province, who are used to crossing mountains and mountains, and their physical strength is excellent, although their combat effectiveness may not be as good as the elite who have been on the battlefield for a long time, but they have powerful grenades, and they are equipped with a large number of bows and crossbows, and their combat effectiveness is really not weak.

Linjiang Mansion is adjacent to Nanchang in the north, and is a big city in Jiangxi Province in the east, because it is located next to the main river road of Ganjiang River, Ganzhou, Nan'an, Ji'an, Yuanzhou several prefectures go to the provincial capital Nanchang to pass through Linjiang Mansion, it is really prosperous, there are as many as ten city gates alone, and the people in the city are not less than 100,000.

The thief army occupied Linjiang Mansion, because of its importance, Zhang Xianzhong sent the general Feng Shuangli to lead 50,000 troops to garrison, and in order to clear the Ming army in Ji'an Mansion, Feng Shuangli led the army of 30,000 to Xiajiang, and the thief army left in Linjiang still had 20,000 people, led by the partial general Zhao Chong, and even then it was several times the Ming army from Yuanzhou.

When the 3,000 Ming army suddenly appeared outside Linjiang City, the thief army of Linjiang Mansion City was not afraid, and after leaving 5,000 troops to defend the city, Zhao Chong led 15,000 troops out of the city, wanting to attack the Ming army when the foothold was not stable, and destroy this bold Ming army in one fell swoop.

Yan Yingyuan commanded his subordinates to rely on the river to line up, relying on a strict formation to resist the attack of the thief army, when the two sides were in the middle of the battle, they suddenly used grenades, and the continuous explosions blew up the thief army at once. The thieves who rushed to the front died in a series of explosions, and the attack of the thieves suddenly collapsed, followed by infinite panic.

Taking advantage of the panic of the thief army's collapse formation, Yan Yingyuan commanded the army to advance by leaps and bounds, rushing into the middle of the thief army's array, and the Ming soldiers waved their swords and guns to slash and slash, and the thief army's formation was paralyzed.

The 15,000 thieves were defeated by the Ming army, which was only one-fifth of them, and the general of the thief army, Zhao Chong, died in the grenade explosion.

Yan Yingyuan led the army to drive the thieves and rout the army to Linjiang Mansion, and took the opportunity to rush into the city gate and capture Linjiang City in one fell swoop. The defeated soldiers of the Western Thieves fled all the way north to Nanchang, and the first part fled south to Xiajiang to join Feng Shuangli's main force.

In fact, when the Ming army suddenly appeared in Yuanzhou, it made Feng Shuangli vigilant. The road from Yuanzhou to Linjiang was extremely smooth, and it was easy for the Ming army to detour to the rear of the Western Army, and it was no longer necessary to defend Xiajiang City.

When it was confirmed that there were as many as 10,000 Ming troops entering Yuanzhou, Feng Shuangli decisively ordered to abandon the Xiajiang River, and the whole army retreated along the Ganjiang River to Linjiang Fucheng.

However, what Feng Shuangli didn't expect was that Yan Yingyuan's march was too decisive, and he actually gave up the comfortable and easy waterway, and marched along the land route in a hurry, marching as much as sixty miles in one day. The distance from Xiajiang to Linjiang was about the same as from Yuanzhou to Linjiang, and the Ming army marched much faster than Feng Shuangli retreated.

Before Feng Shuangli arrived at Linjiang Mansion, a rout army came, bringing the bad news that Linjiang City was lost. Although Feng Shuangli still had as many as 30,000 men, he was suddenly in a dilemma.