Yiling.

The fireworks on the city gate tower have not been completely extinguished, and the air is filled with an unpleasant burnt smell and the pungent smell of nitrate and sulfur.

There were less than a thousand defenders. When the Ming army fleet that covered the sky and the sun passed by, and nearly ten thousand troops landed to attack the city, they were already trembling and terrified all day long.

Ta Tianbao personally commanded, first bombarding the three city gate towers with rocket launchers, and then using suicide squads to attack and place gunpowder while the fire was igniting, blasting open the city gates and rushing in.

The defenders did not even have complete armor, and they were inexperienced in battle. Their defense was weak and powerless. As soon as the city gate was broken, they all abandoned their troops and surrendered.

"Sure enough, he is so weak that he is confused." Ta Tianbao shook his head repeatedly and was very dissatisfied with the seized grain and grass supplies. "All the grain and grass in Huguang were transported to Luxi, and then transported by land to Maolu Mountain. This place has lost its status as a logistics base."

Ma Tengyun disagreed and said with a smile: "We won the first battle easily, which is a good sign. Next, we will attack Yueyang, enter Dongting, and all the famous cities and towns will be under our attack."

Ta Tianbao grinned widely, showing his joy and excitement.

Changsha is the capital of Hunan Province. If you lead your army to capture it, how famous will it be? The whole world will know about your glorious achievements.

There are also Yueyang, Yiyang, Changde and other cities, which are also very large and famous cities, and they will all be conquered by the army led by him one by one.

"This is because His Highness valued him, and he deliberately gave himself the opportunity to make repeated military exploits." Ta Tianbao knew that if he went to the south bank of the Yangtze River to fight, there would be almost no decent enemies, and there would be no problem in winning the battle.

Ma Tengyun looked at the prisoners being escorted onto the ship, smiled coldly, and said: "The green troops from Gansu and Shaanxi who attacked the city can be replenished into the army, and these Huguang prisoners can be used as the vanguard."

Ta Tianbao nodded vigorously and said: "Our army will fight more and more, and it is not impossible to double the number when we return in triumph."

Ma Tengyun said: "If Your Highness's analysis is accurate, our army will expand even more. In order to besiege Maolu Mountain for a long time, the Huguang government conscripted men to transport grain. This has caused widespread complaints and lost people's hearts."

"In addition, the labor service in Xishan was unbearable, and the men had to spend tens of millions of dollars to drive away Jingxiang. They sold their cattle and children, and they had to pay no compensation to escape the famine. They had no way to survive, so they migrated to other places."

"The transfer suddenly summoned millions of people, and the wind, rain and thunder drove away the house. It was when Xiao Pu was eating cold food, and he cried all the way to the army in Changsha. He left his fields to recruit more than five thousand people, and in an instant the people were empty of grapefruits. The big officials bombarded the small officials, and the traitors were even more happy.

Cutting out the flesh of the people. Now that I know how to get rid of life and death, I will return to my family with joy."

The long song should cry, telling the bitterness and tears of the people. In order to besiege Maolu Mountain, the Qing court and local officials caused many families to be destroyed and their bodies buried in foreign lands.

Huang Li's analysis and judgment were correct. At this time, the people in Huguang were in a fierce mood, like a powder keg about to explode. They were just waiting for the Ming army to gallop around and give those miserable people the courage to explode.

……………

Jingzhou City.

Duke Yuan Zongdi of the Kingdom of Jing led his third battalion of 9,000 troops and 600 cavalry to the city. The power of the troops was so great that the defenders of Jingzhou were frightened.

In the first year of Hongguang (the second year of Shunzhi), Li Guo and Gao Yigong joined forces with Li You, He Lan, Liu Rukui, Ma Chongxi, Zhang Neng, Tian Hu, Yang Yanchang and other Dashun troops to besiege Jingzhou.

At that time, there were only a few thousand defenders in Jingzhou. The defender, Zheng Siwei, relied on artillery to hold on to the city. Finally, he received reinforcements led by General Pingnan, Dorobele Lekdehun.

After this battle, the remaining Shun Army suffered heavy losses and had to retreat into the harsh mountains and rivers of Xingshan, Badong and other Three Gorges areas.

This time when the army came to the city, Yuan Zongdi took the initiative to ask for help, preparing to avenge his previous shame and take revenge. Although Zheng Siwei had died of illness as early as the 18th year of Shunzhi and was not in Jingzhou.

At this time, Jingzhou City was still a city wall built when Zheng Siwei was guarding it. There were wide and deep trenches outside the city wall, which was very strong. At that time, the Shun army "filled trenches and built ladders, set up tents and dug kilns, and tried every means to attack", but they still failed.

Break through.

After Yuan Zongdi led his army to arrive, he also did not use tunnel blasting. Instead, like Ta Tianbao, he adopted the roughest and fastest siege method.

Who knows that there are very few defenders in Jingzhou City, not even a thousand! After Huang Li succeeded in using external blasting to blast the city gate in Chongqing, many generals liked this simple and direct method.

Compared with the defenders, Yuan Zongdi's troops were much stronger than those of the defenders. Yuan Zongdi launched an attack on six city gates in Jingzhou at the same time, and in less than an hour, he broke through one gate.

As soon as the city was broken, the Ming army poured in, and the morale of the Jingzhou defenders was completely lost. If it were not for the supervision of the officers, these weak guards would have lost most of their fighting spirit when the powerful Ming army arrived at the city.

Yuan Zong did not stop for a moment while transporting the captured items and taking the captives into custody. The entire army boarded the ship and continued to gallop downstream.

"Your Highness has a clever plan. The guards in the hinterland of Huguang are really frighteningly weak." Yuan Zongdi sat on the boat, a little excited about conquering Jingzhou, but also felt a little unsatisfied.

In fact, it is not a magical calculation, but a numerical calculation of addition, subtraction and subtraction based on the number of green camp soldiers in each province. Huang Li is better at this, he is good at mathematics!

There are 23,000 green battalion soldiers in Hubei and 27,000 green battalion soldiers in Hunan. There should be about 50,000 green battalion soldiers in Huguang.

Dong Xueli lost 30,000, and originally only 20,000 were left. After emergency expansion, Hu Maozhen led more than 20,000 to besiege Maolu Mountain. How much do you think the Qing army in Huguang can have left?

There are at most 10,000 troops, and they have to be distributed in various cities. Even for an important place like Jingzhou, how many troops can be allocated?

………………

Wuchang.

The Governor of Huguang, Zhang Changgeng, had just received an urgent report from the Huguang Navy that had escaped, and the Ming Navy that followed him had already appeared on the Wuhan River.

He only had time to order the city gates to be closed. The Ming army had already landed at Baisha Island in Wuchang and Parrot Island in Hanyang. Another Ming army crossed the Han River and landed at Hankou.

In just one day, Hankou, which guarded the empty Hanyang, fell, leaving only Wuchang among the three towns in Wuhan, like a solitary candle fluttering in the wind and rain, which could be extinguished at any time.

"Report to your lord, the bandits have occupied Changhong Bridge."

"Report to your lord, the bandits have occupied Boyu Mountain and Xiaogui Mountain."

"Report to your lord, bandits have occupied Hongshan and Bauhinia Mountains."

A series of bad news came. Zhang Changgeng's face turned pale, and his staff trembled. They were all frightened by the thunderous actions of the Ming army.

As the capital of Huguang Province, there are more than 2,000 defenders in the city. However, facing the powerful Ming army and the fierce offensive, Zhang Changgeng has been scared to death.

The encirclement of the Ming army has taken place, and Wuchang has become an isolated city, with nowhere to escape even if it wants to.

"Sir, the Ming army has sent an arrow book." Wuchang guard Luo Shuangfu came personally, presented the arrow book, and secretly observed the governor's face.

At this time, the arrow book came, and you didn't need to read it to know what it said. It was nothing more than surrendering in Kaicheng, and your life would be spared; but resisting stubbornly, and you would die.

Zhang Changgeng glanced at his staff and lost the courage to even open the arrow book.

The staff member took the arrow book with trembling hands, unfolded it and read it. He looked at Zhang Changgeng and said in a trembling voice: "Ming army, oh, the bandits have given you one hour to open the city and surrender. Otherwise, after the city is breached, the officials, big and small, together with their families, and

All the officers and soldiers guarding the city were beheaded in public display."

After a pause, he added: "The seal below is the name of King Ding of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhang Changgeng seemed to say "Ah" subconsciously, and then sat there with dull eyes, as silent as a wood carving and clay sculpture.

"Boom, boom, boom..." Continuous explosions rang out. Zhang Changgeng was frightened and shook violently. He looked at this and that with fearful eyes, as if he was confused.

Luo Shuangfu gritted his teeth and opened his mouth, as if he wanted to show his bravery, and as if he wanted to persuade Zhang Changgeng to understand current affairs. But in the end he sighed and turned around and left.

"Sir." As soon as Luo Shuangfu walked out of the Governor's Mansion, the captain of the soldiers ran over and reported anxiously: "The Ming army bombarded Wenchang Gate and Pinghu Gate, and the two gate towers have burned and collapsed."

Luo Shuangfu suddenly raised his head, and sure enough he saw fireworks rising in the distance. Shock flashed in his eyes, and then he frowned and took the reins handed over by his own soldiers.

"Sir, do you want to inform the Governor?" The captain of the soldiers followed behind and asked.

Luo Shuangfu shook his head, got on his horse, and galloped towards the city gate.

"Summon the Zhenbiao here immediately." Luo Shuangfu slowed down his horse slightly and commanded the captain of the soldiers in a deep voice, "We are opening the city anyway, so we can seize the merit of dedicating the city first."

The captain of the personal soldiers was stunned for a moment, then he understood, his face showed joy, he agreed, and rode away.

Reinforcements could not wait, Luo Shuangfu knew very well. The Ming army attacked Hankou and Hanyang, which also made Luo Shuangfu heartbroken.

The Ming Navy and the defeated Lai Huguang Navy were fighting one after the other. Even if the troops besieging Maolu Mountain got the news quickly and rushed on a starry night, they would not be able to move as fast as the boats traveling down the river.

In the past, Yiling and Wushan were defended by 20,000 to 30,000 strong troops, but they were still destroyed by the Ming army. The nearly 10,000 bannermen led by General Xi'an were also defeated and almost completely annihilated.

It is important for a person to be self-aware, but Luo Shuangfu knew the strength of the Wuchang defenders. With two thousand weak soldiers, they could resist tens of thousands of tigers and wolves, and they would never be able to hold on until reinforcements arrived.

If the city is broken, everyone will be slaughtered. If you surrender to the city, you can redeem yourself and at least save the lives of your family.

This credit cannot be given to Zhang Changgeng who woke up slowly, nor can it be given to some frightened defenders and officers. Act early and reap the benefits early, so as not to be robbed by others due to long nights and dreams.

Huang Lizheng led the earth camp to survey outside Wenchang Gate, and had decided to dig tunnels and blast the city walls. The news that the Qing army had surrendered in Kaicheng made him a little shocked.

"I also wanted to show Wang Guangxing a demonstration of blasting and siege the city, but I didn't expect Zhang Changgeng to be so unintimidated? He is not a Han soldier with a yellow flag, but he can also claim to be a slave and receive high treatment!"

Although Huang Li was a little bit dissatisfied, he still felt relieved that he had captured Wuchang without a fight.
Chapter completed!