Nanming Engineer

Chapter 72 Acquaintances
From Xiangyang to Yichang, you must pass through Jingmen, which is a section of the Jingzhou Road. In ancient times, the powerful northerners conquered the south. From Xiangyang, follow the Jingzhou Road south to Jiangling. If you go upstream, you can attack the Kingdom of Abundance. If you go down the river, you can get a glimpse of Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. The geographical location is very important. As long as the northern tyrants occupy Xiangyang, they can advance and retreat freely from now on. They can attack and defend along the Jingzhou Road. As long as they send a few teams of soldiers out for a walk, the south will be as close as possible. The enemy is in constant fear. If Jingzhou is occupied again, it will be tantamount to cutting off the direct connection between central Sichuan and Jiangnan. There have been many examples in history that the southern court perished shortly after the loss of Xiangyang. The Southern Song Dynasty is a typical example.

But at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Xiangyang was not that important. A few years ago, the Ming Dynasty lost Emperor Hongguang and lived a small life guarding the Yangtze River. Now the Qing army crossed the Huaihe River through SDHN and directly captured Nanjing, without even thinking of going to Jingzhou. Crossing the Yangtze River, Li Zicheng's Dashun Army was unable to seize territory due to Zhang Xianzhong's occupation of central Sichuan, and did not develop in this direction. King Lu went to Hangzhou to supervise the country, completely abandoning the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, so this Jingzhou Road , but there was a rare calm, and all forces had no plans to fight in this area for the time being. Yichang actually still regarded the Hongzhi of Nanming as its orthodoxy. He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang in Nanming, set up the governor's headquarters in Changsha and sent garrison officials to Yichang, which is in line with the SC territory. The remaining forces of the Southern Ming Dynasty responded from afar.

Relying on the silver jewelry they snatched from Heshuo Gege Hai Lanzhu, Wang Huan and the others pretended to be fleeing people, mixed in the refugees, and walked slowly for more than ten days to the outside of Yichang.

Yichang City was not a big city in this era. Although it was located on an important road, it had not suffered any military disasters for many years. The city wall was only about a foot high and was made of rammed earth. Only a section of the wall was covered with blue bricks, and most of the wall was still exposed with loess. , the guards on and off the city, wearing the tattered mandarin duck war coats of the Ming army, without even armor, were listlessly going about their errands. Only the patrolling soldiers at the city gate were energetically inspecting the merchants entering the city in order to collect taxes and embezzlement.

In order to avoid the risk of Xiangyang, Wang Huan didn't dare to stay longer. He didn't even approach the city gate. He just took a look from a distance on the official road and got a general impression of Yichang City, so he left in a hurry. Head towards the Yangtze River.

Yichang is close to the river, and the city is only five miles away from the Yangtze River. Not long after Wang Huan and the three of them walked, they saw a magnificent river appearing in front of them. It was the season of abundant water. The Yangtze River had vast waves and wide channels, and ships came and went on the water. There is an endless stream of people on the river, and there are wharves built on the river. From time to time, ships dock, merchants come and go, and large and small packages of goods are carried up and down by porters.A teahouse and inn has been built on the shore, with flags and flags flying in the wine shop and hotel, and the second tea doctor is loudly soliciting guests at the door. There is also an earthen kiln mixed in, with several secular women with thick makeup on their faces, screaming in a shrill voice. Sitting against the railing on the second floor, her charming voice seduced the passers-by downstairs.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Wang Huan almost forgot that he was still living in troubled times. He suddenly thought that the war was far away and life had become peaceful. It was not until he walked into a restaurant shed to eat that he smelled the smell of war.

The smell came from the guests at the adjacent table. The people at this table were dressed in cloth robes, mille-soled cloth shoes, and hemp shoes. They spoke SC dialect. It seemed that they were businessmen from central Sichuan.

One of the leaders, with a big face and big ears, is about forty years old. He looks very steady. He seems to be the leader of the table. He is wearing a cloth robe with a silk edge faintly exposed. He is talking to everyone about Sichuan. situation.

"The Zhang family is so bold that they dare to go to Chengdu Mansion to buy Shu brocade at this time. That Zhang Er is really obsessed with money! Can Chengdu Mansion go now?" He drank a glass of wine and said slowly: "Don't look at the people who used to be here now. The General Soldier is leading the ZQ Mansion. Our area is fairly peaceful, but the Chengdu Mansion has long been a mess. The Eight Great Kings are nothing compared to last year. Their prestige has been greatly reduced. Many surrounding counties have turned against him. Get rich there, hehe, I think it’s almost as good as dying.”

Other people at the same table echoed: "The shopkeeper is careful, we can still do business this way, don't mess with this mess."

The leader was very proud of being flattered, and then said: "The Daxi court heard that it sent four generals to suppress them from all directions, and many heads were chopped off, which is quite impressive. It's a pity that they are mud-legged, and they followed the example of the Ming Dynasty to build a government. Ridiculous, which of the surrounding gentry and gentry would obey him? Baoning Mansion, Shunqing Mansion, and Longan Mansion all erected flags of righteousness, and they all made friends with Zeng Zongbing. Please ask the Ming Dynasty officials and troops to drive the Eight Great Kings out of Chengdu Go, let me see, that Zhang Xianzhong, the emperor, has come to an end."

Wang Huan ordered a pot of tea and some side dishes, and ate the rice with Chen Ergou and Xu Goudan, listening carefully and nodding secretly in his heart. It seemed that the historical development had not changed because of his time travel. After Zhang Xianzhong occupied Chengdu in the first year of Hongguang, he established hundreds of officials, opened six ministries, proclaimed himself emperor and changed the Yuan Dynasty, established the Daxi regime, and officially became the emperor. Together with the Dashun regime established by Li Zicheng, there were two heroes working together. If the Qing troops had not entered Guan, defeated Li Zicheng, I am afraid that in the future these two leaders of the peasant army will become the world's great treasures, and there will be a day when they will fight against each other and compete for life and death.

Pure peasant uprisings in history, no matter how big a storm they cause, even if they occupy the capital and establish a country, will not last long and will be extinguished by the landlord forces in a short period of time. There are inevitable factors of the class nature of peasant wars. , is also related to the objective law that peasants immediately turn to extravagance and corruption after becoming a military force. In the past, there were Green Forest and Red Eyebrows in the Han Dynasty, and later there were Zhang Xianzhong and the Taiping Army. This has been proven many times with conclusive facts.

Zhang Xianzhong also couldn't get rid of this fate. After occupying SC, apart from robbing He Zhen of Hanzhong with Li Zicheng's troops, he was repelled back to Sichuan with a head-on headache. , hiding in the harem every day, drinking and having fun, guarding the land of abundance and being the happy emperor for a year.

In the second year, as the Qing soldiers entered the customs, Li Zicheng retreated into Huguang, and the Nanming forces in SC began to move around. Taking advantage of his unpreparedness, Zeng Ying, the commander-in-chief of the Nanming Dynasty, marched from Huguang, recaptured ZQ Yang Zhan, and entered Syria. Wang Xiang occupied Shunqing, **** broke Fuzhou, Ma Yingshi attacked Luzhou again, and Songpanwei never served, let alone the stone pillar where Qin Liangyu sits.In the whole of central Sichuan, apart from Chengdu, where the flames of war filled the air, the former Ming Dynasty officials and gentry in other places saw the momentum of the Ming Dynasty officials and troops, and they came and went secretly, and the undercurrent surged. Dilemma here.

Of course, after Zhang Xianzhong came to his senses, he would use thunderous means to carry out a bloody massacre to consolidate his rule, but this is something to be said, and it will not happen until the end of the year.

Wang Huan listened and ate, calculated in his mind, and sighed. He didn't have much time left for him. Now at the end of May, in the middle of next year, the Qing Army's Hauge Division will enter Sichuan in large numbers, and Zhang Xianzhong will die in this battle. If you don't take advantage of the uprising before the Qing army enters Sichuan, I'm afraid it will be much more difficult.

Chewing a mouthful of food, Wang Huan was in a daze thinking about something, but suddenly a person walked in from the door, came directly to the three-person table, sat down with a slap on his buttocks, picked up the chopsticks and went to pick up the food.

The three of Wang Huan were startled at the same time. When they looked up, they saw that this man was wearing a bamboo hat with his chin exposed. When they noticed that the three of them were looking at him, a familiar and excited voice came out from under the hat: "Long time no see!"

(End of this chapter)