The Qing army in Gucheng, like Yunyang, collected and hid all the ships in advance, which was one of the important defensive means during the period when Hong Chengchou was passing through the five provinces, which could effectively curb the mobility and transportation capacity of the Ming army. However, the speed of the destruction of Yunyang and Gucheng greatly exceeded the expectations of the defenders, and like Yunyang, these ships were also captured by the Ming army, which saved the time of the Ming army to collect ships. The Han River valley had been under the control of the Qing army for several years, and their ships were larger and better than the Ming army of Kuidong, which stayed in the remote mountains of Kuidong, and after obtaining these ships, more than half of the Ming army could already march by boat.

"Two years ago, I attacked Xiangyang once," Hao Shaoqi boasted to Deng Ming on the ship, "Without the assistance of other generals, I would have captured Xiangyang alone." ”

"Then he was driven back to Fang County by Hu Quancai," Yuan Zongdi had a good relationship with Hao Shaoqi, and laughed and exposed his old bottom: "I didn't bring much baggage and population back at all." ”

Hao Shaoqi was not angry at all: "I didn't say that I held Xiangyang, I just said that Xiangyang is not difficult to fight." ”

"There are a lot of things in Xiangyang." He Zhen hurriedly asked.

"Of course there are a lot, Xiangyang Mansion is a big city, and a large amount of grain, grass and military salaries have to be transferred from there," Hao Shaoqi said with some regret: "It's a pity that although I attacked Xiangyang last time, Gucheng and Yunyang are in the hands of the Tartars, and the waterways are different, and the captured grain has to be distributed to the local people, and it is estimated that it was collected by the thieves afterwards." ”

Two years ago, when Hao Shaoqi attacked Xiangyang, the city of Xiangyang was successively captured by Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng from the end of the Ming Dynasty, and was destroyed and plundered by Zuo Liangyu. After Hong Chengchou opened the Jingluo Mansion in Changsha, he did not set Xiangyang as a link in the 5,000-mile defense line, but took Yunyang and Gucheng as the focus of defense. Two years ago, when Hao Shaoqi attacked Xiangyang, the light army bypassed the forward stronghold of the Qing army, and the city walls of Xiangyang were not completely repaired at that time, and were easily broken by the Ming army. But it was precisely because of the bypassing of the Qing army's forward stronghold that Hao Shaoqi's line of communication with the rear was still closed by the Qing army, and he could neither hold on nor transport the captured back.

Hu Quancai, the current governor of Huguang, who was then the governor of Yunyang appointed by Hong Chengchou, did not send troops to attack after learning of Hao Shaoqi's sneak attack on Xiangyang, but sent troops to fortify along the Han River, threatening Hao Shaoqi's grain transport team and scattered troops, forcing the Ming army to retreat to Fang County with the whole division.

"That's good." He Zhen also knew that this is not what it used to be, two years ago, the main forces of the Ming and Qing dynasties confronted each other in Huguang, and Hong Chengchou specially set up a governor in Yunyang and stationed heavy troops to firmly control the Hanshui Basin. And now the main force of the Qing army is going to the southwest, and the Qing army in Huguang is weak, and the Ming army has captured Yunyang and Gucheng, controlled the upper reaches of the Han River, and advanced and retreated freely. This time, the troops did not take much effort to capture a lot in Yunyang and Gucheng, and He Zhen was full of expectations for Xiangyang: "I will definitely be able to share a lot of things." ”

Liu Tichun did not join Deng Ming and Hao Shaoqi in their chat, but met with his demolition team in the cabin, the city wall of Xiangyang is ten meters thick, not Yunyang and Gucheng can be compared, and Xiangyang has a wide moat on three sides, and there are relatively few alternative locations for blasting.

"If one coffin is not enough, we will go to two coffins, and if two coffins are not enough, we will go to three coffins, no matter how thick the city wall is, there will always be a day when it will be blasted down." Liu Tichun said heroically that the city wall of Xiangyang will undoubtedly be a difficult test of his blasting skills, but Liu Tichun will meet this new challenge with confidence.

……

Three days later, Xiangyang.

At the head of the city fluttered the red flag of the Ming army.

After Li Dingguo's army was expelled from Huguang, the Qing army decided that the Ming army did not have the ability and materials to launch a large-scale attack, and Hu Quancai, the governor of Huguang, judged that they did not even have the time to take Yunyang and Gucheng. In this case, Xiangyang, which is located in the rear, will of course be very safe, so the number of troops stationed in the city is even smaller than in the first two cities.

After learning that the Ming army had broken through Gucheng and Yunyang in a blink of an eye, and completely annihilated the nearly 10,000 Qing troops in front, Xiangyang was suddenly in chaos, and the prefect concluded that the Ming army was strong—it was obvious that the governor of Huguang had made a strict error in judgment, and the Ming army not only had the materials to support the dispatch of the 100,000-strong army, but also the livestock and manpower to carry these materials.

But it's useless to say anything now, with the thousands of troops in Xiangyang City, the prefect knows that he will definitely not be able to resist the Kuidong army, and even if he wants to resist, the walls of Xiangyang have not been repaired at all, and the morale of the army is also low. When the ships of the Ming vanguard were seen approaching from upstream, some of the auxiliaries slipped away, and the prefect hanged himself after setting fire to the warehouse.

The fire lit by the prefect was quickly extinguished by the Qing soldiers who did not flee, and the reason why these Qing troops stayed in the city was to surrender to the Ming army, but the capture of the Ming army was quite pitiful. At present, the yamen of the governor of Yunyang has been removed, and there is no longer a main force in front that needs a large number of supplies, and Huguang's grain this year has already been transported to Guizhou, and the warehouses in Xiangyang City are almost full of mice.

After years of tug-of-war, there were few people in Xiangyang City, especially after Hao Shaoqi's light army attacked Xiangyang last time, Hong Chengchou felt that it was not safe to put the craftsmen and population in this unguarded place that was too close to the front line, so they all moved to Wuchang.

"I didn't get anything," In the mansion, He Zhen sat on the chair melancholy and said nothing: "I knew that Xiangyang was so poor, so I might as well not come." ”

And Liu Tichun complained about Hao Shaoqi: "It's all you, who actually destroyed the city wall so badly." ”

The city wall of Xiangyang is full of big gaps, there is no need to blast at all, although Liu Tichun can also blast now, but seeing the thickness of the thick city wall, Yuan Zongdi and Deng Ming both think that one or two coffins of gunpowder may not be enough, and try their best to persuade Liu Tichun not to waste the materials in this place.

Faced with Liu Tichun's reproach, Hao Shaoqi was full of grievances: "How do I know that they don't build the city wall at all?" Besides, if you were replaced, would you keep the city wall of Xiangyang? ”

Two years ago, when Hao Shaoqi distributed grain to the people, he asked the people who received the grain to rip off the city wall of Xiangyang by the way, and the city tower was also burned. Hong Chengchou saw that Xiangyang was so badly damaged, it was estimated that it would take a lot of manpower and material resources to repair the city, and if it was repaired, it would be necessary to station a considerable number of troops to defend the city wall, so as not to come to the city again. Anyway, Hong Chengchou has decided to move the population and craftsmen away, so it will not be repaired, what was Xiangyang like when Hao Shaoqi left two years ago, and this time it was basically the same.

Deng Ming had already heard the generals of the camp say that the Qing army in the Huguang area did not have any sharp troops, and this expedition also proved that what the generals said was true, but the will to resist of the local guards of the Qing army still surprised Deng Ming, knowing that when they could not resist, the Manchu officials in the three cities chose to commit suicide instead of fleeing, which is enough to show that the Qing court had a deterrent and control power against the local officials.

There is also the problem that these officials would rather commit suicide than surrender to the Ming army, which is even more of a bad omen, indicating that the magistrates everywhere do not think that there is any hope for the Southern Ming, at least that there is little hope, so they would rather die in exchange for the benefit of their family.

"We have broken through three cities in a row, two of which are government cities, and the whole province must have been shaken by now," Deng Ming found it difficult for Deng Ming to be stubborn by the stubbornness of these Qing court officials, and in addition to being disappointed by the appearance of the local gentry: "But I didn't see any heroes come to help us, why?" ”

"Because they think we're thieves." Yuan Zongdi said angrily that after Hong Chengchou arrived in Changsha three years ago, he paid great attention to winning the support of the Huguang gentry. Originally, most of the local gentry were inclined to the Ming court, and they also provided assistance to the camps and western camps under the banner of the Ming court. But Hong Chengchou has been relentlessly dividing and disintegrating for several years, sparing no effort to promote that both Xiying and Chuang Ying are thieves, and to convince the scholars that the Qing court is their kind.

In the past three years, Hong Chengchou's propaganda has been quite effective, and a large number of gentry who were originally inclined to the Ming court have now become neutral, and the Huguangshi people, who had been actively providing information and materials to Li Dingguo and Kui Dongzhong, have now made a posture of avoiding the world: they do not support either the Tartars nor the anti-thieves, and their sons and nephews have begun to participate in the imperial examinations of the Qing court.

"Really?" Deng Ming said softly, after listening to Yuan Zongdi's introduction to the situation, he felt that in addition to the prejudice against the peasant rebel armies such as Chuang Ying and Xiying, the precarious shape of the Southern Ming Dynasty was also one of the reasons why the gentry were no longer willing to help the Ming army.

"You say that there are no Tartar Jīng sharp troops in the Huguang area, then, can we continue to go down the Han River," Deng Ming felt that the impact of capturing Yunyang and Xiangyang might not be big enough, after all, this was not the center of the Qing court's rule in Huguang, and it had been repeatedly tug-of-war for more than ten years, he asked the opinions of the four generals: "We now have a total strength of more than 30,000 troops, and about 7 or 8,000 soldiers, is there a Qing army in Huguang that can pose a heavy threat to us?" ”

"It's hard to say that the whole Huguang is wide, but we are not a big threat to the Hubei Green Battalion, and if it takes a long time to transfer troops from Hunan, will they be willing to transfer all the other defense areas for our 30,000 people?" Liu Tichun was disdainful of the combat effectiveness of the Qing army in Huguang, and for many years the Ming army in Kuidong had been able to suppress the Chu army of the Qing court, and the Hubei soldiers and Hunan soldiers were far less desperate than the northern green battalion to the Qing court.

The Ming army interrogated some captured Qing army officers overnight, and asked some things from the mouths of the surrendered Qing soldiers, and finally Deng Ming judged that there was no particularly strong Qing army stationed in the lower reaches of the Han River, and the Qing army in Hubei, which is currently more effective in combat, is currently deployed in the Yiling area to guard against the Ming army in Kuidong along the river, which is also consistent with the information that Liu Tichun and they know.

"Then we will continue to go south, attack Yicheng, and then enter Chengtianfu, and kill until Zhong Xiang. If the Tartars are strong, we will retreat to Xiangyang, and if the rear of the Tartars is empty, we will continue down the Han River and march to Wuchang. "Half of Yunyang Mansion was originally in the hands of the Ming army, and Xiangyang was also broken by the Ming army several times, but Chengtian Mansion was different, and it has always been controlled by the Huguang Qing army for a long time. If there is a chance to continue to advance, even if a warship under the banner of the Ming army appears in front of Wuchang City, I am afraid it will cause a sensation, and it will also be a great encouragement to those who secretly still miss the Ming Dynasty: "Anyway, we don't have to worry about the future, the Han River is in our hands, we can go if we want to, and no one can help us." ”

Deng Ming's words caused a discussion, and He Zhen, who was the first to come out to support, pointed out that Chengtianfu had not encountered war for many years, Hong Chengchou had opened up a lot of military camps there, and Zhongxiang had a large number of merchants and craftsmen, and if it could be breached, it should be able to divide a lot of things. Even if you don't go to Zhongxiang, even if you walk a little longer, it's good to blast the Yicheng that is close in front of you, come to Xiangyang here to consume a lot, the gains outweigh the losses, even if it is to make up for the losses along the way, you have to go forward for a while.

Hao Shaoqi also agreed with this opinion, since the expedition his troops have not been damaged at all, but have increased: "This time we quickly broke through the Yunyang defense line must have been unexpected by the Tartars, now that the Han River is empty, we don't take advantage of the victory to fight a few more cities, and the next time we come again, it will probably not be so easy." ”

Of course, Liu Tichun will not oppose continuing to attack, although he has absolute zìyóu whether to blow up the Xiangyang City Wall or not, but of course he is also willing to consume this gunpowder more meaningfully, and if he just uses the Xiangyang City Wall as a real thing, it is conceivable that Yuan Zongdi will not lend him gunpowder, but if they attack Yicheng and Zhong Xiang, then they have no reason not to share the cost, especially that He Zhen, Liu Tichun felt that as long as he said: "If you don't take the gunpowder out, I won't give you anything." He Zhen will obediently serve the gunpowder in his army.

Yuan Zongdi never expressed his approval or opposition, but he felt that he had gone a little too far, and he never thought that he would fight Zhong Xiang when he sent troops from Dachang, and he knew that he should bring more soldiers out in this way.

"What is General Yuan's opinion?" Deng Ming did not intend to force Yuan Zongdi to go along, if the other party was unwilling to continue the attack, then it would be good to stay in the rear and carry supplies.

"I'm wondering if I should send a fast horse back to Dachang, and then go to Fengjie to ask for some reinforcements from Inspector Wen." Yuan Zongdi felt that the war was expanding rapidly, and perhaps he could ask Wen Anzhi to send all parts of Kuidong and ask several other families to also participate in the action.

"It's okay, it's time to report to Fengjie." Deng Ming said with a smile, before sending troops, the generals of Kuidong felt that this operation would probably last until the end of June, and the largest scope was to expand to the suburbs of Xiangyang, but now it is only early June, and the Ming army has already put the attack on Chengtianfu on the way, and it is necessary to let Fengjie and the rear know about this huge change.

"Well, then, it's settled." Seeing that everyone agreed to move forward, Deng Ming proposed another thing: "I also mentioned just now that Hong Chengchou stirred up people's hearts in Huguang, and we also have an inspiring purpose in sending troops to Zhongxiang this time, but I am afraid that the doubts of the past three years cannot be clear at once, I think we need to let the fathers and elders of Huguang know that we are not thieves, but Ming officers and soldiers." ”

The other four people looked at Deng Ming together, and they didn't say anything and waited for his next step.

"It would be nice if Inspector Wen came with us, or King Anton would come with General Hao." Deng Ming sighed, Hao Shaoqi also has an Anton King there, that is a genuine clan and not an imposter like Deng Ming, who has a considerable appeal to people who miss the Ming Dynasty, but it also has the same problem as most other clans, that is, they are only willing to hide in the safe rear and never go out with the army to boost the morale of the army.

The four of them were still silent, and Hao Shaoqi slandered: "Third prince, what are you sighing for?" Isn't it more useful to light up your brand than Anton Wang and Inspector Wen? ”

"I decided to spread the word to Huguang, so I ......"

Hearing Deng Ming say this, the hearts of the four people were raised, and they all sat up straight in their chairs.

"In the name of the governor of Huguang, how's that?" Deng Ming said, he looked around at everyone: "I claim to be the governor of Huguang appointed by the Governor of Wen, and the overseer army is crusading against the traitors of Zhongxiang and Wuchang, how about it?" ”

The four people who had just sat up straight regained their original posture, and the third prince finally continued to hide his identity, and he didn't know why he was so stubborn.

"It's not good, the governors are all civil officials," Yuan Zongdi coughed and objected: "Mr. has no merit." ”

"Hmm." Deng Ming lowered his head and thought about it, feeling that Yuan Zongdi's opposition was reasonable, so maybe the gentry would think that this Ming army was even more rogues, and their leader dared to call himself a civil servant without even having a reputation.

"Then I am the commander-in-chief of the Yangtze River Military Affairs appointed by the Inspector Wen, how about it? The military affairs around the Yangtze River are all under my control. Deng Ming pondered for a moment and added: "Admiral Yangtze River and Hanshui Military Chief Officer, how is it?" ”

"Sounds like a water camp." Yuan Zongdi objected again, and this time his voice was even lower than the last time.

"Really?" Deng Ming is as good as a stream: "That's called the chief military officer of the Admiral Huguang, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Nanjing, right?" ”

The reason why Deng Ming wanted to add the titles of Jiangxi and Nanjing to himself was that he planned to finish things at one time, anyway, he would go to Nanjing after attacking Zhongxiang, and he had added it to Zheng Chenggong in advance.

"It seems like it's too long." Yuan Zongdi has already objected twice, and he will not speak again, this time it was Liu Tichun who said tentatively.

"That'...... Admiral Huguang, Jiangxi, Jiangnan ......" Deng Ming looked at everyone's faces: "Is it still long?" In this way, the commander-in-chief of the Jiangnan military affairs is always okay, just say that the military affairs south of the Yangtze River are handed over to me by the Inspector Wen. ”

"What about Jiangbei?" He Zhen originally made up his mind not to say anything against it, but in the end he didn't hold back, although this title doesn't sound like a water camp, but now everyone is obviously still in Jiangbei, even if they take a boat from Hanshui to Wuchang, they haven't set foot in Jiangnan.

"If there are Tartars in Jiangbei, of course Admiral Ben will take care of it by the way." Deng Ming explained.

Soon, the Ming Jiangnan Governor Deng's letter was sent from Xiangyang, claiming to be ordered by the Sichuan Governor Wen An, commanding 570,000 soldiers to go out of Kuidong to conquer Jiangnan, first take Huguang to open the knife, have already conquered Yunyang, Gucheng, Xiangyang, and call on righteous people from all over Huguang to join the army and serve the imperial court.