Although the Zhejiang soldiers who were to return to Huguang were under the command, these officers did not have high prestige, lacked combat experience, and had no understanding of the terrain around Huguang, so it was impossible for Deng Ming not to send someone to assist. After pondering for a while, Deng Ming felt that the most reliable officer in his hands was undoubtedly Zhao Tianba, who was well-informed, had traveled in several provinces, and was bold and careful. So Deng Ming called Zhao Tianba and asked him to bring a few guards to act as guides for these Zhejiang soldiers.

At first, Zhao Tianba seemed a little reluctant, but after hearing Deng Ming explain that he was the most competent candidate, he agreed to take charge of this work, but it could be seen that he was very reluctant, and when he left the camp, he muttered: "It's me again!" ”

Hearing this sentence, the second monk Deng Mingzhang couldn't figure it out, he didn't remember that he had given Zhao Tianba a similar job before, where did the word "again" come from?

Seventeen of the nineteen guards who followed Deng Ming had participated in the Battle of Kunming, and their names had all appeared in the open letter, the only trouble was that many of them had changed their names, and they needed to explain to the curious Zhejiang generals which of them were in the open letter. Although it takes a lot of words, but the respect they get is no less than Zhou Kaihuang, Wu Baoping explained to the generals of the Zhejiang army that he is the third queen of Wu, and also won a bunch of sincere "long admiration" voices. Even Mu Tan's fame is louder than Zhao Tianba's, because in the open letter claiming to assassinate Hu Quancai, Deng Ming listed the names of his guards again, and Mu Tan was also on the list, only Zhao Tianba proudly refused, saying that he was unwilling to take credit. If someone for unknown reasons asked curiously about the incident, Zhao Tianba would not call the matter purely fictional, but only said that he was not involved in the operation.

"You go to Anqing Mansion along the Yangtze River first, I asked Anqing Mansion when I came, there are not many soldiers and horses in the city, as long as you are careful, you should be able to pass Guò safely, and then enter Huangzhou Mansion directly from the territory of Anqing Mansion." Before parting, Deng Ming instructed the generals of the Zhejiang army not to take the road of Jiujiang, and the reason he gave was: "The Tartars of Huangzhou Mansion and De'an Mansion have all gone to Wuchang, and there are no troops left in the local area, as long as you enter Huguang, it will be easy to do." ”

Soon, the Zhejiang army raised the banner of the whole army's westward advance, set out from Wuhu in a mighty way, and opened to the lake.

At this time, although Anqing Mansion did not wait for reinforcements from the Jiangxi Green Battalion, a team of Huguang boats arrived.

"We are the Yuezhou Green Camp, and there are also Dongting Lake Water Divisions." The avant-garde went to Anqing Mansion with a letter of inscription to ask for a meeting with the prefect, and immediately reported to the local officials: "On the orders of the governor of Hunan, we have come to the aid of Nanjing, and please allocate military rations as appropriate." ”

"How did you get there?" After seeing the envoy, the officials of Anqing Mansion felt a little strange: "Your outpost has been going on for many days. ”

Although the situation in Huguang was also very tense, Anqing also heard that in order to slow down the offensive of the Ming army, Zhang Changgeng even wantonly imposed officials on local tyrants, so that they could send troops to fight the Ming army. However, after Nanjing was in distress, the Qing court still asked Zhang Changgeng to send the Dongting Lake Water Division to Nanjing as a priority, and squeezed out troops as much as possible to ensure the safety of Nanjing.

After seeing the letter and the message presented by the visitor, Anqing immediately realized that this was a symbolic xìng army sent by Zhang Changgeng, mainly based on the water battalion, although it was claimed to have 8,000 people, but it was estimated that they were all auxiliaries and sailors, at most there were only more than 1,000 armored soldiers who could barely participate in land battles.

"Our outpost?" The envoy of the Jingzhou soldiers looked a little confused: "After we were ordered to set off from Wuchang, we didn't dare to delay all the way, and we didn't stop or rest in Jiujiang, and we set off immediately after getting the allocated military rations, where are there outposts." ”

"Yes, less than ten days ago, a team of cavalry came over, a total of twenty people, and they are also from your Jingzhou Water Battalion, that's right, they are also holding the waist card of the Dongting Lake Water Division, and they are Hu Generals." Seeing that the envoy was still at a loss, the official who received him further inspired: "Hu Yidao, Hu Zong." ”

The envoy thought for a while, and suddenly his expression became stern, and he hurriedly asked, "Twenty people?" Can you describe the outfit of that Hu general? And the appearance of the people who accompanied him. ”

……

Wuchang, Huguang Governor Yamen.

Today, the prefect of Wuchang hurriedly came to the governor with a headcatcher, and there was a lot of dissatisfaction with this prefect Zhang Changgeng. Not long after Zhou Peigong reached an agreement with the Ming army to secretly sell weapons, the prefect came to urgently ask for an appointment, saying that he had discovered that the Ming army seemed to be carrying out secret activities on the Yangtze River, and it seemed that the Ming army's ships and water battalions had secretly crossed Wuchang at night for two or three days in a row. Of course, this report frightened Zhang Changgeng a lot, thinking that the Ming army was going to break the contract and attack the city, so he hurriedly put the whole city on alert and made trouble for several days, but there was no movement at all, which proved to be a false alarm.

After being scolded by Zhang Changgeng, the prefect's heart to serve the country is still immortal, and he always criticizes the governor's efforts to build weapons and armor, saying that the cost of Governor Zhang's building armor is too high and the materials cost too much, and he must have been deceived by the craftsmen; He also volunteered to supervise the work at the factory, claiming that with the same manpower and material resources, he could increase the output by more than three times the current amount. As a result, he was sneered at by Zhang Changgeng and unceremoniously driven away.

Today, the prefect looked worried again, and when he saw Zhang Changgeng, he shouted: "Lord Governor, the big thing is not good!" ”

"What's the matter?" Zhang Changgeng dragged a long voice and asked: "I found that the thieves sneaked over again, or did you find that someone stole and sold pig iron, and was lazy and slippery?" ”

The prefect stood aside, turned back to Wuchang's head catcher and said, "Why don't you tell the governor quickly?" ”

"Wow." The head catcher hurriedly knelt down, with a smug expression, and reported to Zhang Changgeng: "Five days ago, the villain found a group of people with mysterious whereabouts, and the villain didn't dare to startle the snake, so he secretly followed the surveillance and found that these people bought a large amount of gold. The little man was very strange in his heart, so he redoubled his attention, and found that there were not only a few of them, but several groups of people operating in the city, each of which smuggled in a large amount of silver, exchanged it for gold, and then secretly carried it out of the city. ”

Zhang Changgeng originally had a casual expression, but when he heard this, his expression was also stern, and he leaned forward and looked at the head catcher with concern.

Seeing that the governor was interested, the head catcher was even more proud: "The gold price in Wuchang City has been stable for many years, and one tael of gold for eleven taels of silver has never changed, but in the past half a month, it has risen to one tael of gold can be exchanged for thirteen taels of silver, and not only in Wuchang, the villain inquired about the market in Hanyang the day before yesterday, and it has risen to one tael of gold can be exchanged for fifteen taels of silver!" ”

Although he didn't know why the other party would buy a large amount of gold, the head catcher did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly told the prefect: "These people went out of the city and entered the city, all of them were covered by the local gentry, and they brought such a large amount of gold and silver property in and out, and the villain concluded that there must be an internal response in the catch, so the villain did not tell the other headcatchers, and even the catchers did not know at this time." ”

The gold left by Deng Ming was not enough to repay the kickbacks and purchase funds due to Zhang Changgeng, and after the reserves were exhausted, the Ming army went around to buy gold, but where to find so much gold in the wilderness, they had to keep sending people into the city in makeup to buy from various merchants in Wuchang and Hanyang.

"This man is very cautious." The prefect of Wuchang took over the conversation and praised Zhang Changgeng: "He came to report to the lower officials, and even the small officials in the lower officials' yamen have been hidden, and here is a list of local gentry who are covering the thieves." As he spoke, the prefect took out a piece of paper and handed it to Zhang Changgeng: "The number of participants is huge, shocking." ”

Zhang Changgeng hurriedly took the list over and looked at it carefully, and the prefect did not retreat but took another step forward, and analyzed it for the governor of Hunan with confidence: "The lower officials have already calculated, if you want the price of gold to rise so much, it is definitely not something that can be done with a small transaction, and the thieves have at least bought tens of thousands of taels, or even more than 50,000 taels of gold!" ”

"What do thieves want so much gold for?" The prefect further reasoned: "It must be used to bribe the officials of Wuchang and Hanyang, and to have fornication with them, and the lower officials implore the adults to send ...... quickly."

"Nonsense!" Zhang Changgeng yelled without warning, tore the list in his hand to shreds, and turned a deaf ear to the analysis and reasoning of the Wuchang prefect, pointing to the catcher who was still kneeling below and scolded: "Can gold be eaten or drunk?" If you want to say that the thieves bought a lot of grain, maybe the official will believe it, they bought so much gold, is it because they have too much silver and have no place to spend it? And where did the thieves get so much silver? Besides, the people on this list are all well-known local gentry, they are full of loyalty and patriotism, and the official knows it very well. ”

"My lord......" The prefect of Wuchang still wanted to speak.

But Zhang Changgeng didn't give him a chance at all, and shouted: "Come on, take this thief who framed Zhongliang out to the official and beat him!" Fight to the death! ”

The wolf-like officials of the governor's palace rushed up and dragged the head catcher out of the lobby, Zhang Changgeng was still angry, and continued to scold the prefect: "Now the Kuidong thieves are north of Hanyang, and it is the time when the whole city is united and in the same boat. Why are you so confused? If this thief succeeds, wouldn't Wuchang want the people to centrifuge and give the Kuidong thief a chance to take advantage of? Go down, go down, don't mention this matter again, don't leak the rumors, let the gentry chill, otherwise this official is the only one who asks! ”

After bombing away the Wuchang prefect, Zhang Changgeng ordered his henchmen to invite Zhou Dacai, as well as the old man of the Wuchang Ma Army Admiral - this old gentleman was at the top of the list just now.

After the two listened to Zhang Changgeng's account of what happened, they both shouted "It's dangerous", and then the old gentleman reproached Zhou Peigong with a dissatisfied face, feeling that he was too reckless if he didn't buy the prefect for a long time. This time it was Zhou Peigong's turn to shout that he was wronged, the prefect was originally from Henan, he had no local nostalgia, and he wanted to make meritorious contributions to the Manchu court so that he could climb up, where did Zhou Peigong dare to leak the news to him.

Zhang Changgeng also confirmed that what Zhou Peigong said was true, and the governor of Hunan had also sent someone to send money before, of course, the excuse was that the local gentry had donated a lot, and the Wuchang prefect worked diligently, so he should be rewarded. However, the prefect of Wuchang is most concerned about the future at the moment, not any money, so he resigned Zhang Changgeng's reward, saying that it is better to reward soldiers and build weapons.

After hearing this, the old gentleman frowned, thought about it, twisted his beard and asked, "Hasn't this guy ever done anything to bend the law?" ”

"Old gentleman Takami." Zhou Peigong suddenly realized, and he immediately said to Zhang Changgeng: "He has always taken money, and the student will go to find a witness." ”

"No," the old gentleman immediately objected: "Embezzlement is just a small one, and now the Ming ...... in the north of Hanyang The thief hasn't retreated yet, do you want to let the governor join him at this time in the name of greed? ”

Zhang Changgeng laughed, nodded again and again, and smiled at Zhou Peigong: "What the old gentleman means is that if this guy is a thief and intends to sacrifice the city, this official can cut him down first and take him down at this critical juncture." ”

"The student is stupid, the student understands." Zhou Peigong immediately got up and apologized: "The student will go to find the real evidence that he colluded with the thieves." ”

"It must be made into an iron case." The old gentleman instructed: "There should be many letters to be exchanged and understood, and the leader of the thieves should be close to the name of this guy, and do not leave trouble for the governor and the queen." ”

After Zhou Peigong left, the old gentleman and Zhang Changgeng chatted for a while, since this matter is because of the price of gold, the old gentleman said by the way: "Now the price of gold is good, if the governor has any relatives and friends who have gold for sale, it is a good time." ”

Zhang Changgeng thought for a moment, shook his head and smiled: "It's not too late to wait a few more days." ”

……

Anqing.

There was news from Chizhou, saying that the whole army of the Zhejiang army in Wuhu was advancing westward, and the Ming army was huge, with dozens of battalions every night. There are only a few hundred green battalion infantry in Chizhou Mansion, and I thought that the Zhejiang soldiers were vulnerable and wanted to get some credit, but I didn't want tens of thousands of Zhejiang soldiers to rush over, although few of them had armor, but everyone was in a desperate posture. Seeing this, Chizhou Luying turned around and returned to the city without saying a word, and after entering the city, he blocked the city gates, and sent a messenger to inform Anqing, asking them to try to intercept it.

Although he knew that the Zhejiang army had the intention of flowing into Huguang and merging with the Kuidong army, Jīng Rui of the Anqing Green Battalion had also gone to Nanjing a long time ago. Although it is stronger than Chizhou, there are still more than 2,000 green battalions in Anqing City, but half of them are fully armored, and there are more than 100 cavalry, so it doesn't look like they can block tens of thousands of Zhejiang troops alone.

Jingzhou Shuiying was about to set off when he got the grain and grass, but Anqing informed them after getting the news. Although I don't think that this group of Zhejiang troops who look like they are no different from the rogues have the ability to capture Anqing, but the so-called preparedness, Anqing feels that if the Jingzhou water camp is willing to stay and assist, it can not only ensure the safety of Anqing, but also cut off the waterway, if the Zhejiang army has to go around the city by land, the Jingzhou water camp plus the Anqing defenders also have the opportunity to leave a part of the Ming army.

After receiving the news, Jingzhou Shuiying really did not leave immediately, Anqing said well, now that Nanjing has been lifted, they rushed to there is no credit, it is better to try to kill some Ming troops here, it is not in vain.

After making up this decision, the Huguang soldiers landed ashore and set up camp on the edge of Anqing, and when the guards of Anqing went to the friendly camp to contact, they were taken aback by the military appearance of these Huguang soldiers.

Originally, the guard general thought that Zhang Changgeng only sent this army to deal with errands, and he didn't want to have about 3,000 armor among them, and the 5,000 auxiliary soldiers were all strong, tidying up the camp in an orderly manner, and cooperating very tacitly when working.

The commander of the 8,000 Jingzhou soldiers is also surnamed Hu, the big name Hu Laoxiao, when the general An Qing heard this name, he guessed that he was a local hero, because Hu Guangxing was nervous, he was given an official body by Zhang Changgeng. The other party's official position also proves the judgment of the guard, not long ago, Hu Laoxiao had just received the position and seal of the deputy general of Yuezhou, probably because the time was still short, so he didn't have time to change the official name.

Although the defending general Anqing was very happy to see that this army had combat effectiveness, while secretly lamenting Zhang Changgeng's kindness, he began to worry about whether this heroic and powerful bun could control this army, and the guard general was also a little confused: why would a newcomer be allowed to command the strong army in Jingzhou.

However, after seeing Vice General Hu, General Anqing's doubts disappeared, Hu Laoxiao looked very young, that is, about thirty years old, but he was quite brave, as if he had commanded thousands of troops and horses. After learning that tens of thousands of Zhejiang troops were approaching, Hu Laoxiao slapped it heavily on the table and shouted: "Tens of thousands of sea reverses, where is enough for Ben to kill?" ”

Hu Laoxiao's momentum when he was filming the case made An Qingshou froze, the other party was majestic, and his words were full of Jin Ge's voice, which made people feel admiration and admiration. General An Qing was amazed in his heart: It is indeed a natural general, no wonder Zhang Changgeng will rest assured that he will hand over the army to this person.

However, compared to the majestic Hu Laoxiao, his subordinates' cousins were much more cold, and when the scout leader returned, Anqing's guards were also listening on the side, and they were very satisfied with their cousins at first: Hu Laoxiao's scouts had a clear understanding of the surrounding terrain and geography, and their familiarity with the surrounding terrain in just one or two days was not much worse than that of Anqing's local soldiers. But before the guard general praised Hu Laoxiao's scout Jīng, he heard the leader report again: "General, Anqing said that a family affair is about fifteen taels of silver, which is much cheaper than ours." ”

These words made General An Qing laugh, if the scout cares about the price of food, it is not a big mistake, what is the price of asking about the daughter-in-law? And the guard general thinks that fifteen taels to buy a peasant girl is not very cheap, is it that the marriage in Huguang is very expensive? No, it is said that Jiangnan should be higher than Huguang.

Originally, the Anqing garrison wanted to use the local army as the main force and the guest army as the auxiliary, but after seeing Hu Laoxiao and his army, the defender immediately dispelled this idea and advocated using the Huguang soldiers as the main force and the Anqing local army assisting from the side. Hu Laoxiao did not shirk, and took over the responsibility of the commander, and his proposal was to meet the head-on attack, defeat the Zhejiang army in the field outside the city, and prevent a Ming army from escaping to Huguang.

Such an idea is also expected by the defender of Anqing, if he has a strong army under the command of Hu Laoxiao, he will definitely not think about holding on to the city and looking for an opportunity to intercept the rear of the Ming army. Although the Zhejiang army on the opposite side was quite numerous, according to reconnaissance, they obviously did not have much armor, and their weapons were far from being called jīng liang, and a large number of people were holding wooden sticks and spears in their hands.

Now Hu Laoxiao has 8,000 soldiers, including 3,000 armor soldiers, and Anqing can also provide 1,000 armor and the same number of armorless soldiers, and their armorless soldiers have at least a steel knife. The Zhejiang army looks messy and messy, as if it is not much better than the organization of bandits and bandits, and the 10,000 Qing army will kill them all.

After the Zhejiang soldiers approached Anqing and camped, Hu Laoxiao invited the generals of Anqing to move the army out of the city, and then go to discuss matters in other armies.

After the generals of Anqing rushed to Hu Laoxiao's Chinese army, the other party immediately said his intention: "The general plans to capture the thief and capture the king first." ”

"Takami." General An Qing praised that if he could capture the thief in one fell swoop, it would of course be easier to win, and the loss would be minimal, but what he wanted to know most now was how to do it. Is it a surprise attack before the battle, or is it a raid at night? However, it is not easy to surprise in front of the battle, and raiding the camp at night also requires careful reconnaissance of the enemy's deployment to ensure that it can be hit by the enemy's central army tent.

The generals of Anqing also held their breath, waiting for Hu Laoxiao's next step.

"Ben plans to trick all the thieves into the army, and then take them all." Hu Laoxiao continued to introduce his plan.

"High ...... Takami. General An Qing still praised him, but he was suspicious in his heart: The other party is not a fool, right? How can you deceive the army, and deceive all of them!

"I wonder how General Hu plans to deceive the thieves?" There was a general in Anqing who expressed the doubts in his heart, which seemed to him to be impossible.

"They're already here." Hu Laoxiao smiled slightly, and then shouted: "Bring it up." ”

With this shout, the three Ming soldiers strode in, and the heavily armed Jingzhou armor soldiers followed behind them, and when they entered the camp, they stood densely outside the tent.

The leader faced the eyes of the full camp, his face was not afraid, and he said loudly: "I am Zhao Tianba, a thousand households of Jinyi Wei." ”

General An Qingshou frowned and thought for a moment, did not recall any news related to this name, and made a judgment in his heart: nameless.

"Hu Litao." Another Ming soldier followed and said: "Hu Erqi who made a big fuss in Kunming is me." ”

"I am Jiang Nan, Kunming killed Hong Chengchou, Zhong Xiang killed Hu Quancai, I have a share!" The other Ming army behind the leader also reported to the house.

"Ahh

As these two names were announced, the camp suddenly exclaimed, and General An Qing jumped up, jumped back two steps, and knocked over the chairs. All the Anqing generals were engrossed in guarding against Hu Litao and Jiang Nan, and no one looked at Zhao Tianba, these two were well-known giants to the Qing army.

"General Hu!" An Qingshou stared at the two of them without blinking, and shouted anxiously: "Why don't you take down the thief capital soon?" ”