Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 248 Seizing the City
The main camp of the Tengxiang Army, with Ma Bao sitting at the top and the missionary Zhu Xuexi, Hao Shangjiu, Yan Keyi and other Tengxiang Army generals sitting at the bottom

"Is the boat ready for crossing the river?"

"Lingchuan County is still collecting civilian ships to transport the army across the Lingqu Canal, but if it is just to supply the vanguard troops to cross the river, it should be enough," Zhu Xuexi said.

The Lingqu Canal connects the Lijiang River system in Guangxi and the Xiangjiang River system in Hunan, opening up a passage from the Central Plains to Lingnan.
All dynasties in the Central Plains used the Lingqu Canal to continuously transport human and material resources from the Central Plains to Guangxi Province, and then used Guangxi Province as a fulcrum to strengthen their control over Lingnan.

It can be said that if the Lingqu Canal had not been built by the First Emperor, the Lingnan and Guangxi provinces would probably still be a vassal state of the Central Plains Dynasty.
It is precisely because of the importance of Lingqu that Guilin has always been the capital of Guangxi Province before modern times.
Ma Bao nodded slightly to Zhu Xuexi, then looked at Hao Shangjiu below and said

"If there is no problem, we will act according to the strategy decided by the military meeting just now. Hao Shangjiu, you lead the army to capture Dong'an first, is there any problem?"

"I will take your orders. I will capture Dong'an within five days."

Ma Bao saw the casual look on Hao Shangjiu's face, but frowned slightly and said

"Your mission this time is not just to capture Dong'an City. According to intelligence from Guangxi Province, there are now 2,000 rebels in Dong'an City."

"And you can only lead 800 people to capture the city this time. After all, we have never fought with Liu Chengyin. I heard that Liu Chengyin is also quite famous in Hunan Province. You must not capsize in the gutter."

"Your Highness and the Longxiang Army are watching us from behind. This is the first battle of the court's expedition to the southwest. Our Tengxiang Army must not let us down. Do you understand?"

After hearing this, Hao Shangjiu's expression became more serious and he said

"General, rest assured. If we fail to take Dong'an City, I will bring my head to you and will never bring shame to our Tengxiang Army."

Seeing that Hao Shangjiu had become alert, Ma Bao stopped talking. After discussing the military arrangements for the rear army, they dispersed.

Soon after the military meeting ended, Hao Shangjiu led 800 cavalrymen out of the military camp and rushed towards the Lingqu Ferry.
Hao Shangjiu led his cavalry across the Lingqu Canal by boat and headed straight for Quanzhou. After taking some food and money and resting for a while, Hao Shangjiu led 300 cavalry and 500 infantry to Dong'an City, a hundred miles away.
Twenty miles outside Dong'an City, Hao Shangjiu and his companions stopped in a dense forest to rest.
Several scouts quickly rushed into the forest. After listening to the scouts' report, Hao Shangjiu sneered.

"They are just a bunch of rotten soldiers"

According to the scouts, the gates of Dong'an City were wide open, and there was no defense at all.

Although Liu Chengyin ordered Wang Chaozong to lead his troops to defend Dong'an, he obviously did not have much food and money to provide. Wang Chaozong and his men had just led their troops to Dong'an when the food and money they brought had already been exhausted.
It was obviously impossible to expect Liu Chengyin to follow Wugang to distribute grain. The armies in Hunan Province had never had such a tradition. It was not cost-effective to transport grain for thousands of miles and waste a lot of rice on the way.

What should the armies do if they have no rice? Of course they should rob. As long as there are townspeople nearby, they will not be afraid of running out of food.
The armies can not only boost morale by collecting food locally, but also avoid the loss of food transportation. It is really a good way to kill two birds with one stone.

After Wang Chaozong led his people to occupy Dong'an and expelled the Ming envoys, his troops all went out to collect food in all directions with Dong'an as the center.
In just half a month, the area around Dong'an City was filled with smoke and haze.

Although Liu Chengyin asked Wang Chaozong to guard Dong'an, Wang Chaozong never thought about defense.
There were troops led by Zhang Xianbi and Cao Zhijian near Baoqing, so they had to be on guard. However, Dong'an was already the southernmost part of Hunan Province, and there were no soldiers occupying the area nearby. So what was there to defend?
If Dong'an is beyond the border, it is Yongzhou. Yongzhou is poor and cannot support a large army. The Hunan army will at most send people to Yongzhou to plunder when they are short of food and money.

After the troops have finished their looting, they will leave quickly. There are strange snakes in the wilds of Yongzhou. No one wants to stay in such a poor and remote place for long.
Scouts from Hao Shangjiu's army went to Dong'an to investigate, but encountered several groups of looters on the way. These people took food, money and women, and then returned to the city in a swagger.
Both armies were Ming armies, and they wore the same uniforms. On the road, several looting teams saw that the scouts had horses, and even took the initiative to invite the scouts to go to the countryside to rob food.

After listening to this, Hao Shangjiu said

"What does the food-grabbing team look like?"

"On the road, we saw three or four small gangs, with soldiers ranging from fifty to sixty, and sometimes nearly a hundred. After robbing food, they took away men and women, and used cattle, sheep, mules, donkeys and other carts to transport them."

After listening to this, Hao Shangjiu thought for a moment and then said

"Go find a farm, steal some carriages and men's and women's clothing. Kill those who resist, but don't kill the rest. Once you've taken the things, come back immediately. Don't delay."

A group of cavalrymen rushed out of the dense forest and soon found a village.

The cavalry rushed into the village, and there was chaos in the village, but after a few screams, the village became quiet again.
The cavalry suppressed the villagers, successfully obtained the required carriage and clothes, and quickly left.
In the village threshing ground, a group of people who had been stripped of their clothes squatted on the ground. After the cavalry had gone far away, some people dared to stand up.

The villagers were naked, looking at the ruined village, with anger and relief in their eyes.

Hao Shangjiu took the carriage and the mules, harnessed more than 200 horses to the carriage, and the soldiers in the army put on the stolen men's and women's clothes, covered their armor and
After Hao Shangjiu and others had covered themselves up, they rushed out of the dense forest and onto the official road, and then swaggered towards Dong'an City.
"Get out of here, get out of here, you idiots, you are blocking the way of my guerrillas, are you looking for death?"

Hao Shangjiu's group had about 700 to 800 men. After they got on the official road, they encountered several Dong'an City teams returning from looting.

But before the looting teams approached, the cavalrymen in Hao Shangjiu's army had already stepped forward and drove them away.
Seeing how arrogant these cavalrymen were, and hearing that there were guerrillas in the looting team, the other teams also made way for them. During this time, no one doubted Hao Shangjiu and his men.

Wearing the uniform of the Ming army, he was so arrogant, and he robbed so many carriages, men and women, who else could it be but one of our own?
Hao Shangjiu and his companions marched forward and soon arrived outside the gate of Dong'an City. Naturally, this huge looting team was soon discovered by the guards in front of the city gate.

In front of the Dong'an city gate, the gate was wide open, and a dozen soldiers were sitting on a table on the side of the gate, shaking dice and gambling.
At the long table, the long-faced man at the head was also surprised when he saw the team approaching from a distance.

But when the long-faced soldier found Hao Shangjiu and others, he did not go to warn and close the door. Instead, he greeted them and went to meet them with a few soldiers.
A few dozen meters in front of the city gate, Hao Shangjiu and others stopped, and the long-faced soldier also came in front of Hao Shangjiu.

The long-faced soldier saw the long procession of carriages in front of the city gate, and looked at Hao Shangjiu who was sitting on his horse and looked like an ordinary cavalryman, and couldn't help but exclaimed softly:

"Brother, we went to fight that rich landlord, and we got so many people and carriages."

Hao Shangjiu was about to speak, but before he could say anything, the long-faced soldier took a few quick steps and came over as if he had discovered something strange.

The long-faced soldier stood beside Hao Shangjiu and gently patted the warhorse on which Hao Shangjiu was sitting, with a look of surprise on his face.
"Oh my goodness, there are so many Liao horses. Which general do you serve under? How can you be so extravagant? General Wang doesn't have so many Liao horses, right?"

The long-faced soldier looked at the dozens of cavalrymen behind Hao Shangjiu with envy on his face. At this time, all the cavalrymen were sitting upright on their war horses, and these dozens of war horses were all extremely tall Liao horses.
But then the long-faced soldier realized something was wrong. Even the personal soldiers under General Wang were still using Dian horses. How could other people in the army use Liao horses?

This group of people are obviously not soldiers under General Wang, so the question is, since these people are not soldiers under General Wang, where did they come from?
The long-faced soldier froze, and subconsciously looked forward, but suddenly found that not only the cavalrymen on horseback were looking at him, but also the burly men in long skirts behind the cavalrymen were looking at him coldly.
"you……"

The long-faced soldier only felt his throat dry, but before he could finish his words, a long knife had already stabbed into his body.

"Which wealthy family? The one I am robbing is naturally the wealthy family of Liu Chengyin, the scoundrel."

Hao Shangjiu drew out his long sword and shook off the blood on it. The blood splashed onto the ground along the sharp blade. The long-faced soldier fell to the ground with a distorted expression, and there was no sound.
As Hao Shangjiu took action, the cavalry soldiers behind him also had ferocious expressions on their faces, and they all drew their long swords and rushed towards the city gate.

The Wugang soldiers who were gambling in front of the city gate were chopped down to the ground before they could react.

Hao Shangjiu led his men to occupy the city gate, but did not stop at all. After leaving dozens of soldiers to control the city gate, the rest of the people rushed directly into the city.

Led by the two captives, Hao Shangjiu and his men quickly rushed to the Dong'an government office. The government office was also unprepared. Seeing the army coming, the soldiers in front of the government office collapsed and fled in all directions.
Hao Shangjiu led his men into the government office and went all the way to the backyard, where they encountered resistance from dozens of servants.

These dozens of people were all Wang Chaozong's personal soldiers and servants. Even though they saw that Hao Shangjiu and others were outnumbered, they still guarded the backyard door tightly, trying to buy time for Wang Chaozong to escape.

But the struggle of these people was doomed to be in vain. Hao Shangjiu and other Tengxiang cavalrymen were almost all wearing cloth armor.
Fighting with these armored soldiers in such a narrow terrain is enough to make people despair. The servants fought desperately, but in the end they couldn't even cut through the armor of Hao Shangjiu and others.

Dozens of servants only resisted for half a cup of tea before they were all hacked to death by the Tengxiang Army, and Wang Chaozong was dragged off the bed by Hao Shangjiu's personal soldiers.
In the backyard, Wang Chaozong, wearing a white undershirt, knelt among the corpses on the ground. The stone bricks on the ground had been soaked red with blood.

The backyard was surrounded by armored soldiers. Wang Chaozong looked at Hao Shangjiu, who was wearing red iron armor and had a burly figure in front of him. His face was also panicked, and he said

"Brother, may I ask which general you are under? I am usually kind to others. There must be some misunderstanding..." Wang Chaozong was interrupted by Hao Shangjiu before he could finish his words.

"Misunderstanding? No misunderstanding. I am Hao Shangjiu, a lieutenant general under the command of the Governor of Guangxi Province. Today I have been ordered to come here to strangle the rebels and take over Dong'an City."

Wang Chaozong's face turned pale when he heard this, and he finally understood why this group of people suddenly rushed into the mansion.

He was ordered to expel the governor of Guangxi province a month ago. Now it is obvious that the governor of Guangxi province has come to take revenge.

Although Wang Chaozong was terrified, he still tried to remain calm, put on a smile, and said:

"I was originally a brother under the command of the Governor of Guangxi Province. Didn't the flood flush the Dragon King Temple? I am a soldier under the command of the Governor's Office of Hunan Province. We are all soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and we are all one family. If General Hao wants to station in Dong'an, just give him a heads up in advance. I will never say no."

"Okay, don't waste your time. I'm here to take your head. Let him go."

After Hao Shangjiu finished speaking, he waved his hand, signaling the execution.
Wang Chaozong, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly changed his expression and shouted:

"I am the general of Dong'an under the command of the Right Commander Liu Chengyin. The commander has 50,000 soldiers and dominates Huguang. If you dare to kill me, the commander will definitely make sure you die without a burial place..."

Before Wang Chaozong could finish his words, a flash of knife light had already passed by Wang Chaozong's neck, and then a headless corpse fell to the ground, blood gushing out of the neck.
The head rolled to the feet of Hao Shangjiu, but Wang Chaozong still had an expression of disbelief on his face. He couldn't believe that the other party would actually kill someone.

Hao Shangjiu looked at the head at his feet and spat fiercely.

"General of Dong'an? I have killed so many Tartars, but now I am only a lieutenant general. How can you, a scoundrel, dare to be a general?"

Hao Shangjiu kicked Wang Chaozong's head away, and the head rolled on the ground for a few rounds before being brought back by the guards by the hair.
"Tell them not to kill them all, but bring a living person to me."

Hao Shangjiu spoke softly, and the guards hurriedly retreated. Soon, they came back with a fat-faced man with disheveled hair.
When the fat-faced lieutenant general saw Wang Chaozong's head on the ground, he trembled and immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly.

"General, please spare my life. General, please spare my life."

Seeing this, Hao Shangjiu also chuckled and said

"Isn't that right? Trash should look like trash."

"General Shenmai, General Shenmai"

The fat-faced lieutenant general did not pause at all and continued to kowtow.
At this moment, the smile on Hao Shangjiu's face suddenly disappeared, his expression became stern, and he said

"Listen carefully, I am Hao Shangjiu, a lieutenant general under the governor of Guangxi Province. Today, I am following the governor's order to suppress the rebellion."

"Go back and tell Liu Tiegun to evacuate Wugang City within three days, otherwise I will rush to Wugang, tear off his head, and use it as a ball for the governor to kick. Do you understand?"

"Damn it, how dare a rogue from Yingtian Prefecture drive away my governor?"

After Hao Shangjiu finished speaking, he kicked Wang Chaozong's head in front of the fat-faced lieutenant general. When the fat-faced lieutenant general saw Wang Chaozong's head covered with dust, his body trembled again and he quickly said

"I understand. I will definitely pass on the general's words."

Seeing the fat-faced man trembling on the ground, Hao Shangjiu also lost his way and waved his hand. Then the guards dragged the fat-faced man and Wang Chaozong's head out of the backyard.

Two days later, after being tortured and questioned, the fat-faced lieutenant general was finally taken out of the city.

Outside Dong'an City, the fat-faced lieutenant general heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the soldier actually ran back to the city, and he collapsed on the ground.
The fat-faced lieutenant general looked at Wang Chaozong's head, a trace of fear flashed across his eyes, but then he felt ashamed and angry.

"Governor of Guangxi Province, right? Hao Shangjiu, right? You two just wait for me."

The fat-faced lieutenant general looked at Dong Ancheng in the distance with a sinister look on his face. He picked up Wang Chaozong's head from the ground, then mounted his horse and galloped towards Wugang City.

In Wugang City, Liu Chengyin, Long Zaimo and others have all arrived at the government office. The atmosphere in the hall is extremely solemn. Liu Chengyin looked at Wang Chaozong's head on the table and couldn't help but shouting angrily.
"How brave!"

After the fat-faced lieutenant general got the horse, he traveled day and night and returned to Wugang City in less than two days. When Liu Chengyin learned that Wang Chaozong had been killed, he was furious.
Wang Chaozong was a general under Liu Chengyin. At this time, the other party not only killed Wang Chaozong, but also took his head back. This was not only a humiliation, but also a slap in the face of Liu Chengyin.
If he doesn't react to this, who will follow him in the future?
Liu Chengyin looked furious, but he still managed to hold back and said

“How many people are there in that Gui army?”

The fat-faced lieutenant general said with hatred
"There are only a few hundred, no more than a thousand at most. Only the leading hundred or so have armor, and the rest are ordinary soldiers."

"This group of people are full of tricks. I don't know how they managed to sneak into the city. General Wang was caught off guard and was captured by them. General, you have to give us..."

"More than 2,000 of you were killed by a few hundred people. How dare you come back? You are all trash!"

When Liu Chengyin heard that the other side only had a few hundred people, he could no longer bear it and directly grabbed the teacup on the table and threw it at the fat-faced lieutenant general on the ground.

The fat-faced lieutenant staggered, his forehead bleeding, but he soon knelt on the ground with his head lowered, his face filled with fear, not daring to move a muscle.

Liu Chengyin was furious. Long Zaimo and others in the hall did not dare to speak.

Liu Chengyong did not have much scruples. He looked at the head on the table with a gloomy expression and said

"Wugang and Yongzhou are all internal affairs of Huguang. In order to deal with us, He Tengjiao teamed up with the governor of Guangxi Province and let this outsider seize our land in Huguang."

"He Tengjiao deserves to die for letting a wolf into his house."

Liu Chengyin's heart sank when he heard what Liu Chengyong said. They had always believed that taking Wugang away was He Tengjiao's own trick, but they had never thought that the governor of Guangxi Province would actually get involved.

Huguang and Guangxi have always kept to themselves and each of them has been in charge of their own affairs. Liu Chengyin and others never thought that Guangxi would intervene in Huguang's affairs.
For the sake of two cities, it is definitely not worth it to rashly make enemies with Liu Chengyin, who has tens of thousands of troops.

But when Guangxi Province really sent troops, Liu Chengyin suddenly felt that things were getting tough.

If He Tengjiao really persuaded Guangxi Province to join forces, then they would be one family to deal with He Tengjiao, the Governor of Huguang and the entire Guangxi Province. No one knew how powerful the Governor of Guangxi Province was.
When Liu Chengyin thought of this, a flash of determination flashed through his mind. He must not let the two parties join forces smoothly!
Liu Chengyin glanced at the people below and said in a cold voice

"If he wants to fight, then let's fight. I want to see how powerful this Governor of Guangxi Province is!"

"Chen Youlong, you lead two thousand elite soldiers and eight thousand infantry to recapture Dong'an and capture that Hao Shangjiu. I will skin him alive with my own hands."

"After you take back Dong'an, you will lead 10,000 people to garrison here. Dong'an and Xinning will be your bases for military supplies. You must closely monitor the movements of Guangxi Province and never let the soldiers of Guangxi Province set foot in Huguang."

"Long Wenshu, prepare to recruit soldiers. I will recruit another 20,000 soldiers. I want to see who has the guts to come to Wugang and make trouble!"

Everyone looked at Liu Chengyin with a gloomy expression, and their hearts were also trembling, and then they all responded
After Chen Youlong received the order, he immediately mobilized his troops. One day later, 10,000 soldiers poured out of Wugang City and marched towards Dong'an City.

(End of this chapter)