Yunyang, Gucheng and Xiangyang all belong to the Hanshui Basin, Gucheng is located in the upper reaches of Xiangyang, and Yunyang is the upstream of Gucheng. Not far to the south of this section of the Han River, there are two other tributaries, the Baishui River and the Malan River, both of which flow from southwest to northeast, and their movements are close to parallel: the Baishui River flows through Zhushan to Yunyang, and the Malan River flows through Fangxian to near Gucheng.

Whether the Ming army will reach the city of Xiangyang this time depends on the specific situation after the troops, if the grain and grass harvest is quite abundant, maybe you can go to Xiangyang City to show off your might, if it is very limited, then of course it is better to go back home as soon as possible. The vicinity of Yunyang and Gucheng is roughly the main target of the Ming army.

Although the roads around Huguang were much stronger than those in Kuizhou, the land routes were still relatively rugged, and the Ming army used the waterways as much as possible every time they attacked the Qing army-controlled districts. In the past, when the Ming army attacked Yunyang, Hao Shaoqi would use Zhushan instead of Fangxian as his starting base. The distance between Zhushan and Fangxian is not far, and the straight-line distance to Yunyang is not much different, but starting from Zhushan, which is slightly northwest, you can use the Baishui River waterway, which is much more convenient for the Ming army to enter and carry materials for the lack of manpower and animal power; And if you attack Gucheng, the starting base will definitely be Fang County, because you can use the Malan River.

Because the strength of the Ming army in this attack was abundant, it was planned to attack two roads at the same time, the main force of Liu Tichun of Badong, Li Laiheng of Xingshan and Hao Shaoqi set off from Fangxian to attack Gucheng, while Yuan Zongdi of Dachang and He Jin of Daning attacked Yunyang together with the garrison troops of Zhushan. This plan was taken up by Li Laiheng, who thought that it was more safe, and if the Qing army in Xiangyang had the intention of supporting the upstream, they would first encounter a stronger Ming army along the Han River. This deployment helped to deter the Qing army in Xiangyang, so that Yuan Zongdi, He Jin and others in the upper Yunyang area could move relatively safely.

However, Hao Shaoqi thought that this was purely superfluous, because the Qing army in Huguang was still deep in the southwest at this time and could not return, even he himself was enough to deal with the local defenders all the way, not to mention the reinforcements of several other Ming troops. Moreover, this deployment will also lead to divide Hao Shaoqi's troops into two: one part follows Li Laiheng and Liu Tichun to Tha Valley City; The other part followed Yuan Zongdi and He Jin to fight Yunyang, but since Li Laiheng insisted, Hao Shaoqi was not stubborn.

After informing the surroundings of Deng Ming's participation in this battle, Yuan Zongdi thought that he would be able to set off within a few days, but he did not expect to receive an urgent letter from Liu Tichun in Badong a few days later, asking Dachang's army to set off a few days later, and wait for him to rush over from Badong with his army to join Yuan Zongdi.

The cause of the change was still Li Laiheng, who was located in the easternmost part of the Ming army in Kuidong, and shouldered the responsibility of guarding against the attack of the Qing army in Yiling. Originally, Li Laiheng was not particularly active in sending troops this time, because he felt that he was a little difficult to be distracted. After some consideration, and after a second review of the military information sent by Hao Shaoqi, Li Laiheng admitted that his plan was a little too conservative, and Hao Shaoqi was enough to form an advantage over the Qing army in Yunyang and Xiangyang. In this case, Li Laiheng thought that it would be better for him to stay and continue to monitor the Qing army in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

In addition, the Ming army in the Kuidong area was poor, so they had to carefully weigh the pros and cons before each expedition, and always wanted to exchange as little effort as possible for as much gain as possible. Li Laiheng felt that since the Qing army did not have his own troops, and the Qing army would never dare to face the battle, it was better for him not to go, and if he did not participate in the army, he would lose a point. The cost of these thousands of people going out is not a small number, and it is better to save it for more critical times in the future.

This kind of psychology can be understood. When he was in Chóngqìng, he had seen this frugal habit of the Ming Army. At that time, in order to save grain and grass, Yuan Zongdi and a part of the Ming army were first sent to Chóngqìng to build a large camp, and most of them were assembled and set off very late, intending to complete all the preliminary work in the outpost troops, and then arrive at the city to start attacking the city - in order to achieve the purpose of saving grain and grass to the greatest extent, but it also gave Tan Yi an opportunity to take advantage of.

Li Laiheng decided not to go, Liu Tichun should take the troops to Fangxian and Hao Shaoqi to sweep the suburbs of Gucheng, while Yuan Zongdi and He Jin still went to Zhushan and join the other Hao army. But just before Liu Tichun set off, he received a report from Yuan Zongdi, saying that Deng Ming had arrived in Dachang and was ready to participate in the operation, Liu Tichun changed his plan and wrote to Hao Shaoqi to ask him to concentrate the troops of Fangxian and Zhushan and go to sweep Gucheng alone, while Liu Tichun led his troops to join forces with Yuan Zongdi and He Jin and jointly take charge of the direction of Yunyang.

"There will be no problem with the deployment of the army being revised repeatedly like this, right?" Deng Ming understood the cause and effect, and was a little worried about the future of this march, and he asked Yuan Zongdi: "Is General Hao's troops too weak?" ”

"Mr. Deng was too worried." Yuan Zongdi was not very worried, he told Deng Ming that Hao Shaoqi would definitely be the main force in this dispatch, because the target was the closest to his base: "General Hao himself can probably dispatch about 10,000 troops, and the sum of our three families is at most this number, most of them are less." ”

Because other generals are on an expedition, they risk that the gains outweigh the losses if they send too many troops. In order to show Deng Ming's military appearance, Yuan Zongdi dispatched 3,000 people, of which 2,005 were auxiliaries. Liu Tichun, who arrived from Badong not long after, was stronger than Yuan Zongdi's army, with 3,500 men, including 1,200 soldiers.

After Liu Tichun arrived, Yuan Zongdi did not waste time and immediately set off with his troops. Nearly 7,000 Ming troops marched towards the upper reaches of the Daning River, and soon arrived in Daning to join the division of He Jin. Because the third prince was with the army, He Jin dispatched more troops than originally planned, with a full 4,000 people, but the soldiers were also 1,200 people. In this way, the size of the Ming army reached 10,000 people, which was even stronger than Yuan Zongdi's original estimate.

During this military operation, Deng Ming once again realized the importance that Kui Dongming's army attached to waterways. Daning's location is very close to the north of Fengjie, that is, slightly east of due north. But if the Ming army went to Fengjie from Daning, it would definitely march east to Dachang first, follow the Daning River to Wuxian on the Yangtze River, and then turn around and go west to Guò Kuimen to Fengjie.

The destination of this march is Zhushan, which is located in the east of Dachang, but after the Ming army set off, it went northwest along the Daning River, and after the Daning division, the whole army continued to march northwest, they would go all the way to the end of Daning, and then enter the territory of Shaanxi to Zhenping. In this way, the Wanming army entered the Baishui River Valley, and the downstream was Zhushan, where they were going. The mountainous roads along the border of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hubei are relatively easy to walk, that is, along the river, and can also make it easy for the army to be replenished with fresh water.

Deng Ming saw that there were very few cavalry in the Ming army, and horses were easy to die when they walked the mountain roads, and the Ming army in Kuidong was not able to raise a large number of horses because of the shortage of materials. They can't even afford to grow dogwood, a condiment that everyone loves, and almost all of the limited military cantonments are used to produce food.

Fangxian and Zhushan were all Hao Shaoqi's sphere of influence, and before the main force of the Ming army arrived in Zhushan, the vanguard had already made contact with the Ming army in Zhushan. As Liu Tichun expected, Hao Shaoqi gladly accepted his proposal and had already transferred the troops in the Zhushan area back to Fang County. According to Li Laiheng's original plan, Hao Shaoqi's troops were to be divided into two, and the gains were to be shared with friendly forces in both places. Although the relationship between the Ming troops in Kuidong is relatively close, and they are not concerned about the capture, but if they divide more and less, everyone just doesn't say it, and there are inevitably pimples in their hearts, especially when everyone is so poor.

If Hao Shaoqi participates in the distribution on the two roads, the possibility of conflict will be doubled, and now Liu Tichun's construction is very much liked by him, so that Gucheng will be attacked by himself, and the harvest will be owned by him alone. Although everyone had agreed to give more to Yuan Zongdi, at that time, Hao Shaoqi's giving more and less was all voluntary, and no matter how much Yuan Zongdi gave, he had to accept his affection; If he goes all the way with Liu Tichun, if the harvested materials are divided equally, Hao Shaoqi will have to consider how much to give Yuan Zongdi - if he gives less, he may not only not be grateful, but he will also be considered stingy.

In addition, the three Ming armies worked together to sweep the surrounding areas of Yunyang, and they would definitely be able to contain the Qing army there and not be able to reinforce the lower reaches of the Han River, which was a powerful form of solidarity, so Hao Shaoqi's goal of asking everyone to send troops together was achieved. Although it is a good opportunity for the third prince to personally lead the army, Hao Shaoqi feels that it is very important to obtain supplies, and after the end of this battle, the third prince will definitely not pass through Fang County and not enter, and it will not be too late to see you again. If this trip is a bumper harvest, Hao Shaoqi ponders that he can give the third prince a generous gift.

There is no Hao Shaoqi's large army in Zhushan now, and a Hao Shaoqi's family member receives Liu Tichun and others. This family took the three Ming generals to the treasury in Zhushan, which contained a lot of carts, ropes and other items, although they were simple, they were all transportation tools; On the pier of the Whitewater River, there are also a large number of boats. Deng Ming saw that most of them were canoes and wooden rafts, all of which were built by Hao Shaoqi here in Zhushan for many years.

There is no river connection between Zhushan and Fang County, and Hao Shaoqi can only use the boats here every time he attacks Yunyang, but he cannot move the boats from Fang County, so whether it is the Baishui River or the Malan River, Hao Shaoqi has a large number of boats -- although there is only one group of personnel in the water camp, there are two sets of equipment required for the water camp, so it is more convenient for Hao Shaoqi to attack no matter which side he wants to attack.

Hao Shaoqi couldn't move the boats from Fang County to Zhushan, and Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun and others certainly couldn't transport the boats from the Daning River and the Yangtze River to the Baishui River, so Hao Shaoqi specially sent a family member to guard these important equipment - if these ships had a bad pool, Yuan Zongdi and they would be considered to have come in vain, and Hao Shaoqi would need to rebuild the wooden platoon if he wanted to attack Yunyang in the future.

"The head of the family said that the boat in this river is used by Mr. Deng and the princes, but the number is clear, but the head of the family remembers it clearly, if he sees a shortage when he comes back, he will have to compensate him for a new one." The guy said with a smile.

After hearing this joke, Yuan Zongdi and the others also laughed.

Liu Tichun said with a smile: "It's all a prince, or is it as stingy as before, who is greedy for a few broken rafts for him?" Transporting it to the Yangtze River is not enough for me to suffer. ”

"How can it be!" Yuan Zongdi pretended to be angry after laughing: "When I come back from Yunyang after fighting, I will dismantle all his broken boards and burn them as firewood!" ”

Yuan Zongdi sent people to Fang County to inform that Hao Shaoqi's army had arrived in Zhushan. After a short rest in Zhushan, the Ming army set off again, and marched to the capital city of Yunyang Mansion by land and water. Even Deng Ming, who had never been here, would not get lost, as long as he walked along the Baishui River, the destination was in front, and the Ming army was gathered on both sides of the river.

Since this dispatch, Deng Ming had not seen the generals of Kui Dong consider a route beyond the river, and the only land route out of the river was the short section between the Daning and Baishui river valleys. Yes, the importance of the rivers to the Kui Dong Ming army, who lacked livestock, was undeniable, and it was only by using these rivers that the Ming army could transport baggage, armor, and other supplies; Now all the small cannons of the Ming army can easily follow the army on bamboo rafts and wooden rafts, but in the short land route between the Daning River and the Baishui River, it took a lot of effort to be able to carry the artillery to Guò, so a short distance, the Ming soldiers escorting the artillery were so tired that they were about to collapse; In areas where the river is wide and the water flow is not fast or slow, the Ming army can also ride a bamboo raft together and move forward easily and happily, and there is no more economical way to march.

However, Deng Ming always felt that the dependence of the Ming army on the river was too high, and over time, he was afraid that he would not know how to fight if he left the river, and the young Ming army officers would not have the experience and ability to rely on land transportation to support logistics.

For the enemy, if the Ming army did not consider the offensive route beyond the river at all, or if the army could not get rid of the dependence on the river, it would be very easy for the Qing army to judge the possible offensive route of the Ming army, and it would be easy to defend against xìng.

Recalling his discussions with Yuan Zongdi and Liu Tichun, Deng Ming found that their dependence on river transportation was deeply rooted. For example, in the discussion of going to Jiangnan, Liu Tichun also considered how to break through the blockade of the Qing army along the Jiangling area, and did not consider it at all as for bypassing the waters of Jiangling. However, Deng Ming couldn't come up with any other good ways to deal with this, Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun and others knew more about the military situation of this era, and the military experience was by no means comparable to Deng Ming, since they didn't have a way to get rid of the river, then Deng Ming definitely couldn't have it.

In the thirteenth year of Yongli in the Ming Dynasty and the twenty-third day of May in the sixteenth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Deng Ming followed the 10,000 Ming army led by Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun, and He Jin to Yunyang City.

As Hao Shaoqi expected, the Qing army had completely retreated to the city and held out. There were more than 5,000 Qing troops around Yunyang Mansion, but most of them were auxiliaries whose combat effectiveness, morale, and loyalty were extremely questionable, and even the more than 1,000 off-duty soldiers with weapons and armor could not be compared with the soldiers who were transferred to the southwest.

Therefore, the defenders and generals of Yunyang did not intend to fight with the tens of thousands of Ming troops in the field at all, but ordered to abandon all the peripheral strongholds, beacon towers, and post stations, and withdraw to the capital city for defense. Although abandoning the post station and beacon tower was equivalent to automatically giving up the ability to communicate with the surrounding area, the Yunyang side also had a good understanding of the Ming army's mode of operation, and they knew that the main purpose of these Ming troops was to collect some supplies and manpower in and around the city. Although the walls of Yunyang Mansion are not very tall and strong, they are not something that these Ming troops, who lack heavy artillery and siege weapons, can shake lightly.

Now that they know the combat objectives of the Ming army, the Qing army's countermeasures are obvious, they withdraw all the materials and manpower in the surrounding post stations, beacon towers and strongholds to the city, and the residents in the suburbs and the materials in the hands of the residents also try to move into the city before the arrival of the Ming army. In this way, the gains of the Ming army will be relatively limited. The more limited the gains of the Ming army, the shorter the time they could stay under Yunyang City, and the smaller the search range.

When the Ming army was encamped outside the city, the defenders in Yunyang City were not flustered at all, and stood on the head of the city and looked coldly at the Ming troops under the city. Experienced veterans also cheered up the younger ones so that they didn't get too nervous. The strength of the troops in this Yunyang city is almost half of the Ming army outside the city, but the firearms are only a lot more than outside the city.

When Yunyang received news of the attack by the Ming army, the defenders sent urgent letters to Gucheng and Xiangyang Mansion upstream. Not long after they sent the letter, Yunyang also received an urgent report from Gucheng, saying that tens of thousands of Ming troops were approaching the city and asked Yunyang to send some troops to reinforce it.

"The scale of the thieves this time is really not small." After seeing Gucheng's urgent report, the magistrates and guards of Yunyang quickly guessed the situation: "It must be that the two thieves are sent together, all the way to Gucheng, all the way to us, so that we can't support each other." ”

In the past, if Yunyang was threatened by Hao Shaoqi, Gu Cheng would send a reinforcement army. This support soldier will not enter Yunyang, and the number of people will not be too many, only about 1,000. However, the proportion of combat fighting soldiers is relatively large, and they will be stationed far away to monitor the Ming army, and if the Ming army is too scattered in order to collect supplies, this Qing army will also take the initiative to attack those lone Ming army detachments. If Gu Cheng was in an emergency, Yunyang's reaction would be similar. This kind of containment action would force the Ming army to act cautiously and not dare to divide its forces in all directions, so that the Ming army's gains would be smaller, and the time spent in the Qing army-controlled area would be shorter.

However, at present, the Ming army is obviously moving on two fronts at the same time, and each road has an absolute advantage over the Qing army, so it is impossible for Yunyang and Gucheng to send reinforcements. The Qing army in Yunyang judged that the urgent news from themselves and Gucheng would soon reach Xiangyang, and it was possible to send some reinforcements there, but the number would not be very large, and the purpose was only to monitor the Ming army and not to expel it.

"Even if Xiangyang sends reinforcements, they must go to Gucheng first, and they may not be able to come to our Yunyang. We don't have to think too much, concentrate on defending the city, and wait for the Ming army to retreat. "The Qing army in Yunyang came to a conclusion.

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Note for reprinting: Huguang was not prepared for this battle, Hao Shaoqi's destination was Gucheng, I didn't read it carefully, the original chapter was modified.