On the eighth day of the third month, 3,000 reinforcements from Jiangzhou who came with Su Tingzhan by water entered Fuliang City, and Han immediately led his troops eastward and approached in the direction of Qimen.

Spring in the south of the Yangtze River is early, and March is already fragrant. From the floating beam to Qimen, the mountains are vertical and horizontal, the Changshui River valley winds like a snake between the mountains, the river water is gradually abundant after spring, and the large river beach on both sides is full of gravel, all of which are polished to no edges and corners, and are crystal white.

The weeds grew new green under the trampling of people and horses, and the dirt road on the north bank also extended into the distance along the winding riverbank.

A group of cavalrymen stood in the middle of the road with the reins in their armour, their ebony sheaths and quivers tied to both sides of the saddle, and the figures on the ridges in the distance danced and blew the bamboo whistles in their mouths, like the song of birds through the wind and clouds among the mountains.

Needless to say, the horsemen had noticed the smoke and dust rising from the avenue coming from the floating beams.

Seeing the Zhejiang-Fujian army coming out of Fuliang City coming this way, this group of cavalry quickly dispersed to the ridge forest on the north side. Except for the fresh creases left on the side of the road by the wild grass trampled by the horses, calm quickly returned to the valleys.

Soon, the scouts of the Zhejiang-Fujian army who were responsible for exploring the enemy on the periphery appeared between the river valleys, in groups of fifteen, all across horses and armor. Jiangxi is mountainous, and there are many mules and horses, and some people with good endurance and healthy feet are selected from the horses to serve as war horses, and they can barely be used. The outpost scouts of the Zhejiang-Fujian army looked at the flock of birds flying between the treetops, reined in their horses, and were suspicious, and couldn't figure out how many ambushes were hidden in the woods for a while, but they just divided three people to gallop around, told the people and horses behind to be vigilant, and then separated several people to dismount and carefully touch the woods with shields.

"Whoosh" three sharp arrows were fired, all of them on the scout shield approaching the woods, the bow of the arrow was extremely powerful, the arrow almost pierced the shield, and the tail was still vibrating violently, making a buzzing sound.

When the people in the forest saw that the arrows had not hurt the enemy, they gathered their bows and fled across their horses from the forest path to the ridge.

The scouts who stopped in the middle of the dirt road, two of them couldn't bear it, they kept harassing them all the way, and their patience had been teased to the extreme, and they scolded their mothers in their mouths, pulled out their knives, and drove their horses into the woods.

The leader of the team couldn't stop him, and he saw that as soon as the two approached the woods, more than a dozen arrows shot out of the forest. The two men let out angry roars and swung their swords at arrows, but how could they stop so many arrows?

The arrows were heavy, the edges were sharp, and the two of them each shot three or five arrows into the body, and the leather armor they wore was difficult to cover and cover. One man planted his horse at the moment, and his body twitched on the grass at the edge of the forest where the new grass was abundant; The other man hung an arrow on his shoulder, ribs, and abdomen, and barely fell off his horse, and fled back with the painful beating of the horse......

At this time, dozens of archers came out of the forest, and there were more than a dozen cavalry on both wings to cover. The scouts of the Zhejiang-Fujian army saw that the other party was crowded, and they did not have time to rob the man who had fallen off the horse in the meadow at the edge of the forest, so he beat the horse and fled back to protect the wounded; When they fled, the two of them fell into the rain of arrows and stepped off their horses, but they didn't have time to rescue.

By the time Han Li led two hundred soldiers to respond, the men and horses who had sneaked up had already withdrawn from the ridges to the north.

",!" Han Li tightened the reins and stepped off his horse to vent his anger. After coming out of Fuliang City, he only walked fifty miles away, and he ate nearly ten good hands for this kind of uninterrupted harassment, but the mountain people and hunters in the counties around Fuliang all fell to Huaidong one by one, and the small-scale elite of the Gandong advance army was called to act like a fish in water in the mountains and fields around Qimen and Fuliang, while Han Li led his troops to dare not leave the avenue at all, and rashly chased into the mountains and mountains, and suffered even greater losses.

Not to mention the mountain hunters, the local gentry and wealthy families have no sense of identity with the luxury family, they were coerced by the luxury family soldiers and horses before, and they did not dare to resist and struggle, but now Yu Wencheng occupied Qimen and officially showed the banner of the advance army, and they all moved stupidly. The locals who were originally appointed by the luxury family to serve as government and county officials also left one after another, unwilling to be driven by the luxury family; Even the new soldiers who recruited the luxury family into the camp to make a living have fled one after another - few people can see Yan Hu in Guanshaan, and the current predicament faced by the luxury family is clear at a glance, who wants to leave a stain on the luxury family at this time and liquidate it after the war?

The balance of the situation in eastern Jiangxi has been completely tilted in the direction of unfavorable luxury families, making it difficult for the Zhejiang-Fujian army to move an inch as soon as it leaves the center of gravity.

The harassment continued, and the Changshui River constantly threw broken logs from the upper reaches to prevent the naval warships from going up the river, and the roads along the river were still damaged in many places, and the villages and peasant households along the road were also quite uncooperative, and the small groups of scouts could not spread too far, so it was difficult to effectively detect and grasp the situation in the mountains and mountains more than ten miles away from the periphery, and the entire marching speed was delayed. The faster the march, the better, but the soldiers who were always highly nervous were very tired—Han Li was used to fighting tough battles, but he was very uncomfortable with this kind of old-cowhide style harassment guerrilla. However, Han Li also knew in his heart that the Changshui River Valley was winding eastward, like an open beast's mouth, and he really couldn't take it lightly, so he could only forcibly suppress the irritability and anger in his heart, and restrain the people and horses to slowly move eastward.

Although you can walk slowly, there are only less than 100 miles left outside Qimen City, and you can finally get there!

**************

Zhuqi River is a side water of Changshui River in the southwest of Qimen County, Maanling is located between Xicheng, is the key point to enter Qimen City, and is now the camp of the advance army of Gandong in the periphery of Qimen.

The sentry cavalry continued to gallop back, bringing the news that the Han Li Department of the Zhejiang-Fujian Army was approaching.

Hu Qiaozhong stood on the ridge and looked into the distance, the Changhe River in his field of vision was still very calm, and he could not see the slightest trace of the enemy's eastward advance.

Han Li once again led his troops out of Fuliang City and headed for Qimen, he was very cautious all the way, and it was difficult to ambush him in the middle of the road-

"At this time, it is not difficult to guess Su Tingzhan and Han Li's intentions, they are not in a hurry to attack, but they will definitely approach Qimen City step by step," Yu Wencheng walked over, Yu Wenbei and the generals of the former Ganzhou Army, Pan Wenshu and Chen Yuqin, all walked over with him, and said, "The enemy army will not dare to attack Qimen City suddenly, and our intention to use Qimen as bait will fall in the empty space." And once Han Li is told to gain a foothold at the source of Changshui and control the source of Changshui, his naval warships will continue to transport supplies, and if we strictly defend Qimen City, it is very likely that the communication between Qimen City and the periphery will be cut off......"

"I think it's fighting with the enemy in Ma'anling, and there is no soft egg in Ganzhou!" Chen Yuqin said.

Yu Wencheng erected a banner in Qimen, recruited strong and brave from the mountain people and hunters in the surrounding counties, and in just three or five days, the department has nearly doubled from just more than 1,000 people, plus the troops led by Yu Wenbei and Pan Wenshu to sneak over, the advance army of eastern Gandong can gather 5,000 soldiers and horses on the periphery of Qimen - Han Licai led 2,000 soldiers to come, from Yu Wencheng and Yu Wenbei brothers to Pan Wenshu, Chen Yuqin and other old departments of the original Ganzhou army, all advocated engaging the enemy outside the city of Qimen.

However, Yu Wencheng and Yu Wenbei themselves were sent by the Jiangning Privy Council, and Pan Wenshu, Chen Yuqin and other former Ganzhou Army members also agreed to be incorporated into the Gandong Advance Army and accept the jurisdiction of the Privy Council - the right to decide whether to fight or avoid, or Hu Qiaozhong, the special envoy sent by the Privy Council.

Nowadays, there is not much shortage of armor and swords in Qimen City, but what is lacking is grain and grass.

There is no way to transport much grain from the trail between Yishan in front of him - a transport team of 100 people can carry 10,000 catties of supplies on his back after running through the mountains and mountains. If it is salt and iron, tens of thousands of catties are enough to support the short-term consumption of an army; But 10,000 catties of grain is not the same thing at all compared to the consumption of thousands of people.

For the time being, the supply of the advance army in eastern Gandong can only rely on requisitioning from the surrounding countryside, exchanging salt, iron, gold and silver with the surrounding cottages, and even making IOUs first. However, after the luxury family entered Jiangxi, they levied heavy taxes on the shores of Poyang Lake to support their army, and the private grain reserves in the countryside around Qimen were limited.

The people and local forces have been very cooperative with the advance army of eastern Gansu, but the requisition of grain and grass requires a large number of people and mules and horses, and the speed is not fast, in just three or five days, Yu Wencheng has stored less than 100,000 catties of grain in Qimen City.

To requisition grain from Duchang, Yongshan and other places farther away, it will take more time and manpower, and under the noses of the Zhejiang and Fujian army, the danger is also greater.

Once Han Li's troops were called to approach Qimen City, the recruitment of grain and grass would inevitably stop—if more than 5,000 people from the Gandong advance army were gathered in Qimen City at this time, it would only last for ten days and half a month at most.

Even if Yu Wencheng's troops are only allowed to defend the city, they can only support the rest of the month. In case the Zhejiang-Fujian army ruthlessly drove a large number of people into the city for refuge, the food would be even more scarce - in this case, the Zhejiang-Fujian army could not be asked to cut off the communication between Qimen City and the periphery and become an isolated city.

"If you want to fight, you must first defend Ma'anling, lure Han Li to attack strongly, and exhaust his army, and then wait for the opportunity, all the way from the west bank of Zhuqi Creek, all the way from Qimen City, and attack the flank of Han Li's department," Hu Qiaozhong said to Yu Wencheng and others, "In this way, I will guard Ma'anshan Jianzhai, and Yu Wenbei is responsible for dragging the reinforcements that Su Tingzhan may send from Fuliang from the direction of Jushan Mountain, and Yu Wencheng and Pan Wenshu's troops will first hibernate and ......"

"The army can be in Qimen City, and I will guard Maanling!" Yu Wencheng said.

Maanling is not much dangerous, one side faces the stream, three sides are gentle slopes, in just three or five days, there is no way to set up a strong camp, after all, more materials must first ensure that the defense of Qimen City is strengthened.

In comparison, Qimen City stands on the mountain, and there are more than 1,000 soldiers and horses to defend it, which is enough for the elite of the Zhejiang and Fujian army not to dare to attack.

Hu Qiaozhong shook his head and said, "If you want to fight, you have to listen to my arrangement!" ”

Yu Wencheng, Yu Wenbei, Pan Wenshu, Chen Yuqin and other generals are all in their youth, but Hu Qiao, who was only 24 years old at the time, was the youngest. Although Hu Qiaozhong was appointed by the Privy Council to temporarily lead the Gandong advance army, if he didn't have the courage to defend the place and fight a tough battle, he only knew how to hide in a safe place, how could the generals be convinced - Yu Wencheng and Pan Wenshu are all new generals who have joined Huaidong, and they all have their own arrogance, and they won't say anything in their mouths, but they will not easily admit Hu Qiaozhong's previous status in the Huaidong army; On the contrary, they will even think that Hu Qiaozhong is just taking advantage of being a member of the Chongzhou boy, and he is more trusted and reused by the privy envoy.