Chapter 212 Two more cities

After learning that Luzhou City was destroyed, Ding Qirui sat for a long time and did not say anything. In the end, he just lamented, wrote a note, sent someone to Beijing to plead guilty, and since Chen was unable to save the situation of Nan Zhili, he resigned and returned to his hometown. Now Ding Qirui has basically fallen into despair. He knows that Nan Zhili probably can't be preserved, so instead of waiting for Nanjing City to be destroyed, he was killed by Xing Tianjun or arrested and beheaded by the court afterwards, it's better to resign now.

I don't expect to go back to his hometown to raise him. His hometown is Yongcheng, Henan Province. At this time, he is already the territory of Xing Tianjun. At present, many of his relatives are under the control of Xing Tianjun. Even some relatives have simply joined Xing Tianjun, and some descendants have even invested in the army of Xing Tiantian Army to serve Xiao Tianjian. Therefore, even if he resigns, he can only go to the Liangguang area to find a place to settle down first.

On the one hand, Ding Qirui resigned from the court. On the other hand, he still insisted on mobilizing people and transferring most of the people at hand to Nanjing City as much as possible, in order to strengthen the defense of Nanjing City.

At this time, Han and Guangmei from Jiujiang Prefecture came to the news that Luo Rucai, one of the chiefs of the thief, attacked Jiujiang Mansion. He was unable to defend Jiujiang Mansion. Although Fang Guoan led troops to help Jiujiang Mansion, he was too late. He couldn't wait any longer and begged Ding Qirui to allow him to give up Jiujiang Mansion and retreat to Nanjing. City.

In fact, it was not that Fang Guo'an really didn't save him and refused to lead his troops to Jiujiangfu to help. It was that Fang Guo'an was harassed by a small group of people and horses of Xing Tian's army after sending troops. Then he didn't leave Nanchang for a long time. He heard the news that a large group of Xing Tian's troops were killing Nanchangfu from Ningzhou, so Fang Guo An had to lead his troops to turn back to return to Nanchang. As a result, he didn't know that the news was fake until he arrived in Nanchang Prefecture. The so-called large number of people of Xing Tianjun were just a thief operating around Nanchang Mansion. He wanted to take advantage of the emptiness of Nanchang Mansion to attack and disturb Nanchang Mansion under the banner of Xing Tianjun. As a result, there was a false alarm, on the contrary. It was a big help for Luo Ru. After Fang Guo'an sent people to disperse the group of thieves, he led the troops to Jiujiang Mansion again, but it was too late at this time.

Luo Rucai constantly dispatched people from Huguang to Jiujiangfu. By the end of June, there were already 30,000 Xingtian soldiers who besieged Jiujiangfu. Although these people and those elites under Xiao Tianjian are not of the same level, their combat effectiveness still slightly exceeded that of the officers and soldiers. Luo Rucai To open up Jiujiangfu, an important town guarding the Yangtze River, this time he sent a fierce supervisor to attack Jiujiangfu. At this time, Liu Yaoben, who was in Anqing Mansion, was not idle. He searched for some ships around Anqing Mansion, and it seemed that he was going to do a lot of work, so Han and Guangmei could no longer stay in Jiujiang Mansion. I felt that if I didn't leave at this time, I might not be able to leave any later, so I asked Ding Qirui for his life, but on the other hand, he had already packed up the soldiers and horses and began to withdraw from Jiujiang Mansion.

Originally, Ding Qirui could not have promised to let Han and Guangmei abandon the Jiujiang Mansion. After receiving Han and Guangmei's request, he immediately returned and ordered Han and Guangmei to defend the Jiujiang Mansion, not to evacuate, and wait for Fang Guoan's reinforcements. However, it didn't take long for Ding Qirui to learn the news that Han and Guangmei had panic. He abandoned Jiujiang Mansion and fled to Nanjing City.

Ding Qirui, who was angry, almost didn't care about being polite. On the spot, he scolded Han and Guangmei as incompetent people. He immediately wrote again and asked the court to be punished by Han and Guangmei.

However, Ding Qirui tossing around like this is also in vain. Han and Guangmei, an unknown figure, can be regarded as a person holding heavy soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River at this time. At present, Zuo Liangyu is gone, Huang Degong has also been captured by Xing Tianjun. In the whole Nanzhili, there is only one more capable general, Sun Yingyuan, who is more capable. Another slightly famous person is Fang Guoan. Han and Guangmei, incompetent people, have now become the important generals of Nan Zhili. Although Ding Qirui is angry, the court does not dare to easily use this general who holds more than 10,000 horses at this time.

Luo Rucai originally thought that he could not take down Jiujiang Mansion, but he didn't think that Han and Guangmei, a straw bag, abandoned the city and fled. He threw Jiujiang Mansion to him so easily, so he immediately led the army into the city with great joy, and there were still a group of officials in Jiujiang Mansion who did not escape. Han and Guangmei ran away. They had no intention to go against Luo Ru again, so they surrendered to Xing Tianjun one after another.

Fang Guoan finally led his troops to a place dozens of miles away from Jiujiang Mansion, but he heard that Han and Guangmei had run away. The Jiujiang Mansion had been lost, so without saying a word, he turned around and returned to Nanchang Mansion again.

There was a lawsuit this time. After Han and Guangmei fled to Nanjing, they told Fang Guo'an that he was dead and did not come to Jiujiangfu to help. Fang Guoan wrote angrily scolded Han and Guangmei for being as timid as rats. He took the initiative to give up the important town of Jiujiangfu and asked the court to treat him.

There is no need to say how to fight this kind of lawsuit. As soon as the Jiujiang Mansion was lost, Xing Tianjun basically opened the channel to enter Nanjing. At the same time, it also opened the channel of materials in the Huguang area to be transferred to the front-line army. After Luo Ru captured Jiujiang Mansion, a large number of materials immediately began to go down the river and transported them to Anqing Prefecture by ship. The shore.

At this time, after Liu Yaoben caught Huang Degong again and defeated Han and Guangmei, he began to send troops to move on a large scale in the area of Anqing Prefecture. First, he led his troops to take Huaining County in the northwest of Anqing Prefecture, and then he took Qianshan County with almost no effort, and then began to attack Lujiang in the north. In the county, the county officials around Anqing Prefecture either abandoned their officials and did not escape, or directly surrendered to the Xing Tian Army and became officials of the Xing Tian Army, so that the territory in the northwest of Nanzhili quickly turned into the jurisdiction of Xing Tian's army.

On the other side, the old Hui led the soldiers quickly recaptured Macheng, which was captured by Huang Degong in the first few months, and then quickly took Yingshan County at the speed of thunder, and then waved his division to attack Huoshan County to the north. Originally, they were mainly active in the area of Yinghuo Mountain. For this He is very familiar with the terrain and people's feelings. He has conquered Huoshan, Yingshan and other counties many times, and the local mass base is also quite good. In addition, there are very few officers and defenders, and there is no ability to stop the soldiers and horses of the old return, which makes the old return to lead soldiers in Yinghuo Mountain as if they were in a no-man's land. Wherever they pass by, the people almost raise their hands to welcome them, making Lao Hui It was almost effortless to return, and the area of Yinghuo Mountain was also controlled by Xing Tianjun.

In this way, in this month-long operation, Xing Tianjun basically controlled most of the northwest part of Nanzhili in the hands of Xing Tianjun, so that the junctions of Huguang, Henan and Nanzhili are under the banner of Xing Tianjun.

By the beginning of July, Xiao Tianjian had basically wiped out the area around Luzhou Prefecture, and solved their military food problem through the water transportation of the Yangtze River, which greatly eased the pressure on the transportation of materials in Henan to support the operation of the army.

After taking Luzhou Prefecture, Xiao Tianjian and the generals discussed again. According to their current situation, they gave up the original plan to attack Chuzhou. Instead, the army went south and Liu Yao's headquarters met in Lujiang County, and quickly captured Lujiang County. The army entered the area of Anqingfu and began to do a short time. At this time, Luo Rucai also led his troops to Anqing Mansion and Xiao Tianjian met together. In this way, Xiao Tianjian gathered nearly 60,000 horses around Anqing Mansion, officially posing a direct threat to Nanjing City.

At this time, the officers and soldiers can be said to be defeated and retreated. They could not stop Xing Tian's army from attacking Nanjing City at all. Luzhou, Jiujiangfu, Anqingfu and other places were lost, and the whole Nanjing City was equivalent to the opening of the door. At this time, the last barrier of Nanjing City was only Chizhou, Taipingfu and Jiangbei on the Yangtze River. The state is the last line of defense.

For these places, after discussing with Xiao Tianjian and Li Xin, they finally put the goal directly on Chizhou and Taipingfu. After all, after the Yangtze River water transportation, the grain supply of Xing Tianjun no longer needs to rely on land transportation to ensure. Just send a boat in Wuchang Prefecture, there are dozens of cars or even hundreds of cars. The number of materials transported by large carts is also very small and fast. The consumption of transportation personnel on the way is also very small, and the safety is also sufficient. There is no need to consume a large number of troops to escort these materials, so it is much more convenient to attack Nanjing by water than by land.

After a little discussion with the generals, Xiao Tianjian ordered to start sending troops in Anqing Prefecture. At this time, Liu Jiang had taken over the post of Yang Kunshan, who was killed in the battle, and became the commander of the Yangtze River Water Camp. After following Yang Kunshan for more than a year, Liu Jiang had also washed away the style of Jianghu heroes. He turned into a serious soldier. After the Ezhou Water War, although the Yangtze River Water Camp suffered great losses, after a few months of recovery, a large number of officers and soldiers and many water thieves in the rivers and lakes fell one after another, so that Liu Jiang returned to the water camp in a very short time. There are also warships.

After arriving at Anqingfu, many new warships have been added to the original two warships, and the number of troops has exceeded the original scale. The number of troops has reached more than 3,000, and there are more than 200 warships available. Many of them are medium-sized warships that can carry dozens of people, and two or three fires can be set up on them. Cannon, so in terms of the navy, Xing Tianjun is not weaker than the officer navy at present.

So Xiao Tianjian made Liu Jiang lead the navy to start now, for the follow-up soldiers and horses to sweep the officer warships on the surface of the river in Chizhou. After cleaning up the river, the army and materials can take a boat to attack Chizhou.

After Liu Jiang took the order, he immediately ordered two battalions of warships and the soldiers of the water battalion. He boarded the ship in Anqing Prefecture and went down the river to Chizhou. At this time, there were only four or five thousand officers and soldiers in Chizhou, and there were only forty or fifty warships. Although there was still a certain combat power, compared with Xing Tianjun. The number of troops was very different, so Ma Ru, Zhizhou, Chizhou, did not dare to fight. The officers and soldiers of the navy warships did not have the courage. They fled to Taipingfu by boat first. After thinking about it, the other officers and soldiers on several boats simply surrendered to Liu Jiang, who led the army, and turned around and became the people of the Xing Tian Army.

After escaping from Jiujiang Mansion, Han and Guangmei did not really run to Nanjing. He also knew that it was a big crime to give up Jiujiang Mansion without authorization. There were a large number of people in Nanjing's hands, and he also had the Shangfang sword given to him by the court. Once he was furious, he was not sure that Ding Qirui would escape to Nanjing. At that time, he asked Shang Fang Baojian to ask him. At that time, it was not impossible to lose his head, so after he arrived at Taiping Mansion, he entered the city of Taiping Mansion and did not dare to go to Nanjing.

Ding Qirui really wanted to kill Han and Guangmei, but Han and Guangmei and Chen Bing Taiping Mansion refused to go to Nanjing. He did not dare to send people to Taiping Prefecture to arrest Han and Guangmei, so he could only acquiesce to let Han and Guangmei temporarily sit in Taiping Mansion. After all, there are more than 10,000 officers and soldiers under Han and Guangmei. If they are in a hurry, these people may really defect and surrender to the Xing Tianjun.

When Han and Guangmei learned that Xing Tianjun attacked Chizhou along the river, they were very scared. They didn't care about Chizhou Zhizhou Ma Ruxian's request for help and ordered to defend Taiping Prefecture and not send a single army to support Chizhou.

As a result, after Liu Jiang led his troops to clean up the river, Xiao Tianjian immediately led his troops to Chizhou City. For Chizhou City, Xing Tianjun's morale could be said to be like a rainbow. Knowing that Han and Guangmei refused to lead troops to support, Chizhou Ma Ruxian scolded Han and Guangmei for not things. He couldn't stop Chizhou City, so he was breaking. Before the city, he changed his casual clothes from the south gate of Chizhou and fled from Chizhou City with his family. Since then, no one has known the whereabouts of Lord Ma Ruxian Ma. Chizhou City was also captured by Xiao Tianjian on July 16. In the next step, Nanjing City is only the last line of defense of Taipingfu.

At this time, the capital was also panicked. At this time, the emperor Zhu Youjian in the court had no choice. He almost thought about the way he could think of. First, he sent Mako to lead his troops to attack Zhangdefu. Ma Ke did not go, but forced Bai Guangen to send troops. As a result, he forced Bai Guangen to surrender. Yang Guozhu did not dare to go out of Xuanda to find Xing Tianjun's trouble.

At present, there are only about 70,000 soldiers left in Hong Chengchou, which is not enough to prepare for slaves. What's more, how can we pull out troops to go south to rescue Nanzhili! What's more, Nan Zhili was too busy to take care of himself and cut off the delivery of money to the court. The court is now poor and can't afford to mobilize a large number of people to enter the customs.

In June, Chongzhen also thought of using Shandong's soldiers and horses to go south to respond to Nanzhili, but Liu Zeqing was really scared by Xing Tianjun. After hearing the imperial edict, he simply ignored it. He not only did not lead his troops to go south from Jining, but also led his troops to evacuate Jining and ran back to Jinan. Wei Zuofu is gone!

Chongzhen was so angry that he wanted to arrest Liu Zeqing, but in the end, he was afraid of rebellious Liu Zeqing. In the end, he had no choice but to disrespect him.

Chongzhen also wanted Shaanxi to send troops to attack Shaanxi, which could more or less contain Xing Tianjun. However, in June, news came from Shaanxi that the thief Li Zicheng seemed to be very cooperative with the actions of Xing Tianjun. For more than a year of Li Zicheng's stay in the Han Dynasty, it has developed rapidly, not only firmly controlled. In the area of Hanzhong, he also extended his tentacles to Sichuan, and his troops were getting stronger and stronger. In June, more than 30,000 troops were sent from Hanzhong. The front of the soldiers pointed straight to Xi'an, forcing Shaanxi to only mobilize troops to deal with Li Zicheng's troops, let alone send troops to attack Shanzhou and respond to Nanzhili.

At this time, Chongzhen had no choice but to watch the gradual disintegration of the Ming Dynasty under the front of Xing Tianjun's army. As for Ding Qirui's resignation, he was even less interested. Looking at the officials in the court, Chongzhen could not find a suitable candidate to replace Ding Qirui at the moment, so he finally went directly. The order was to retain Ding Qirui and continue to stay in office, and the governor's soldiers and horses guarded Nanjing.

It seems that Xiao Tianjian also wants to prove that he will be the person who buried the Ming Dynasty. On July 20, Xiao Tianjian, who had just taken Chizhou for a few days, once again led the troops out of Chizhou, killed Taiping Mansion by water and land, and arrived at the city of Taiping Mansion on July 22, and then launched the Taiping Mansion. After the strong attack of Pingfu, Han and Guangmei abandoned the city and fled again after three days of defending the city. However, this time, he did not take away a large number of people and horses, but only took more than 3,000 cronies and went straight to Hangzhou. The rest of the soldiers and horses basically surrendered to Xing Tian's army, and a small number of resisting officers and soldiers were immediately annihilated by Xing Tian's army in Taiping Mansion.

Originally, Ding Qirui wanted to send troops to rescue the Taiping Mansion, but before he had settled the troops, he learned that Han and Guangmei had been defeated and the Taiping Mansion had been broken. At this time, Ding Qirui knew that Nanjing was going to face a big war next.

(Today, I thank my old friend Bai Yun for not stinging rewards! There were no three updates yesterday, and I will update another chapter today!)