Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1201: Not acclimatized
Although Sha Dingzhou changed his tactics, Yang Weizhi of Chuxiong was not afraid at all. He deployed troops in the city and responded in a measured manner.

He had already let Mu Tianbo take away most of the people in Chuxiong, and the old and weak who could not walk far were also evacuated to the west. These days, he personally led his subordinates to make all preparations, to hold this place, and not let Sha Dingzhou take another step forward.

In the next few days, Sha Dingzhou continued to attack Chuxiong, and when he built siege equipment, the attack became even more frantic. But even so, Yang Weizhi defended the city tightly, especially as time went by, the defenders of Chuxiong gradually let go of their previous fear of the enemy and became more and more adept at defending the city.

The battle lasted for about half a month. Sha Dingzhou tried his best but still failed to capture Chuxiong, and his troops had suffered thousands of casualties. Seeing that Chuxiong was still standing and the Ming Dynasty's battle flag was flying on the city wall, Sha Dingzhou was so angry that he gritted his teeth, but he had no way to deal with Yang Weizhi.

During these days, Sha Dingzhou tried every method, but failed to persuade them to surrender, to tempt them, and even to attack the city.

Yang Weizhi was like a nail nailed to Chuxiong, blocking Sha Dingzhou's way. If Chuxiong could not be taken, Sha Dingzhou would not be able to advance westward, let alone capture Mu Tianbo.

At this time, Sha Dingzhou also received news that Mu Tianbo was not in Chuxiong, but ran westward. According to the time, he has almost reached Dali, and will probably flee to Yongchang next.

After learning that Mu Tianbo had escaped, Sha Dingzhou looked at the Chuxiong City in front of him and became even more angry. If Yang Weizhi had not stopped him here, he would have already broken through Chuxiong and moved westward, and maybe even caught Mu Tianbo. But now, Mu Tianbo was still not caught, and Chuxiong was not taken down either, which made Sha Dingzhou feel a little caught in a dilemma.

After attacking for another two days, Chuxiong remained unmoved. Sha Dingzhou had no choice but to withdraw his troops back to Kunming.

When Sha Dingzhou's troops finally withdrew slowly, leaving only a mess outside the city, the defenders of Chuxiong finally cheered, and Yang Weizhi, who had not slept for more than half a month, finally breathed a sigh of relief and put his mind at ease.

Although Yang Weizhi defended the city tightly and did not allow Sha Dingzhou to find an opportunity to break into the city, in fact, while Sha Dingzhou suffered heavy losses, the defenders of Chuxiong also suffered considerable losses.

Nearly three quarters of Yang Weizhi's 5,000 defenders were killed or wounded, and half of them were killed in battle. Although Chuxiong seemed impregnable, Yang Weizhi had no confidence at all if the battle continued. Not only were the casualties of the soldiers too great, but there was also a shortage of defense equipment and supplies in the city.

If Yang Weizhi had not personally gone to the front line, led the troops and fought bravely, coupled with his pre-war promises and those high military merits, the Chuxiong army would have collapsed long ago. In other words, in the end, Yang Weizhi was fighting with Sha Dingzhou, waiting to see who would collapse first. Fortunately, Sha Dingzhou lacked experience in sieges, and his troops also suffered heavy casualties, which allowed Yang Weizhi to defend Chuxiong by chance.

If Sha Dingzhou gave it his all and took Chuxiong at all costs and continued to attack, Chuxiong would be defeated in a few days. Yang Weizhi was very clear about this.

Fortunately, Sha Dingzhou withdrew his troops and Chuxiong was saved. Yang Weizhi still did not dare to be careless. After Sha Dingzhou withdrew his troops, Chuxiong not only began to settle the dead and wounded, replenish supplies, and repair the city walls to prepare for the next battle. In addition, Yang Weizhi also fulfilled his pre-war promise as soon as possible and distributed all the rewards to the soldiers. After receiving the rewards, the soldiers were ecstatic. The previous difficulties were swept away in an instant, and everyone's morale was boosted and they smiled.

At this time, Mu Tianbo had retreated all the way to Dali, and finally felt safe after arriving in Dali. Mu Tianbo began to mobilize troops in Dali and Yongchang, and prepared for military reorganization. At the same time, he also sent envoys to various parts of Yunnan in the name of Duke of Qian, asking the Ming army of various prefectures in Yunnan, including local chieftains, to join forces to fight against Sha Dingzhou, gather troops to suppress the rebellion, and counterattack Kunming.

Although Mu Tianbo was in a mess when he ran away, he still took his seal with him, so he could still issue orders as the Duke of Qian and the General of the Southern Expedition. However, it was unclear how effective these orders were. After all, Sha Dingzhou was now quite powerful and occupied the entire eastern Yunnan region. Under his tyranny, some prefectures, counties and local chieftains had expressed their submission, which made his power even stronger.

But no matter what, Mu Tianbo had to do this. Not only to win support from Sha Dingzhou in Yunnan, but also to weaken Sha Dingzhou's control over Yunnan. In addition, it would buy time for himself and wait for the arrival of reinforcements from the imperial court.

Somewhere in Guizhou.

Guizhou is a mountainous area. There is a saying that the land is not flat for three miles and the sky is not clear for three days. The mountain roads in Guizhou are very difficult to travel. Even the official roads are difficult to travel. The routes are winding and there are many mountain roads. They look close on the map, but they are difficult to walk on.

Especially when walking, the weather often changes, either it rains or a "devil wind" blows. In a day, ordinary people can only walk a few dozen miles of mountain roads at most. In addition, the mountains block the detour, which makes it even more difficult. At a place in Yongning Prefecture where the Yunnan-Guizhou Post Road passes, a Ming army is marching. Although this Ming army is not large, only about 10,000 people, it is elite in terms of its equipment and spirit. Moreover, this Ming army is obviously a local Guizhou army, good at mountain roads. Although the post road is not easy to walk, their speed of marching is not slow. It took less than ten days from Guiyang to here. According to the distance, it will take at most three days to reach the Fuyuan area of ​​Yunnan.

Halfway through the day's march, the sky suddenly became hazy and it began to rain again. The rain came so suddenly that the general who led the troops looked up at the sky and ordered them to take shelter from the rain and rest.

This is the case in Guizhou. It rains from time to time, and the rain comes quickly and goes away quickly. It is not safe to travel in the rain, and it is not good for the health of the soldiers. There have been many similar situations of stopping and starting along the way, and the marching army has been fully prepared.

Wei Xuliang was supported by two personal soldiers and sat down. He was breathing heavily and his face was flushed. This was because he accidentally got caught in the rain yesterday and he was not used to the climate in Guizhou and had a slight fever.

Wei Xuliang left Songjiang Prefecture two months ago. Before that, he was transferred from Xuanfu to Dali. Before he took office in Dali, the court gave him a three-month vacation to visit his family. In Songjiang Prefecture, he happened to meet the crown prince Zhu Minlan. After that, Zhu Minlan stayed at Wei's house for a few days before going to Shanghai. Soon after Zhu Minlan left, Wei Xuliang, who had settled down at home, set off for Yunnan. However, he did not expect that halfway through, when he just entered Guizhou from Hunan, he received an imperial decree asking him to rush to Guiyang as soon as possible to report to the subordinates of Yongping Hou Xie Jikai.

This decree came suddenly, and what surprised Wei Xuliang even more was the news that a rebellion had broken out in Yunnan. Sha Dingzhou suddenly launched a mutiny in Kunming, and Mu Tianbo fled Kunming in a panic. The whole of Yunnan was in danger. Now Sha Dingzhou has occupied the eastern Yunnan region. Once he advances westward and destroys the Ming army in Yunnan, or even kills Mu Tianbo, then all of Yunnan will fall into Sha Dingzhou's hands.

In view of the rebellion in Yunnan, the court has ordered the transfer of troops from Sichuan and Guizhou to Yunnan. The army mobilized from Sichuan is the famous White Rod Army, and the army mobilized from Guizhou is the army of Yongping Hou Xie Jiekai. Although Wei Xuliang has not yet taken office, he is actually a guerrilla general of Dali. Therefore, when the court learned that he was halfway to take office, they directly gave him this order, asking him to immediately rush to Guiyang to report to Xie Jiekai and come under the command of Yongping Hou.

In this way, Wei Xuliang finally arrived in Guiyang before Xie Jikai sent out his troops and met the Marquis of Yongping.

The Wei family and the Xie family were both nobles of the Ming Dynasty. Although they had no friendship before, they were naturally closer as both were members of the noble family. Moreover, Xie Jikai, the Marquis of Yongping, was not an ordinary person. He was the father-in-law of the current crown prince and the father of the crown princess. The Wei family had already reached a cooperation with the crown prince Zhu Minlan on the opening of Shanghai, so from this point of view, they were more like one of our own.

Just like that, after the meeting, Wei Xuliang directly became Xie Jiekai's temporary subordinate and followed his troops to Yunnan to quell the rebellion.

Wei Xuliang had been in the army for a long time. He was an old hand at fighting and marching, but the problem was that Wei Xuliang had been leading troops in the north. Although he was from the south, the climate in the south of the Yangtze River was very different from that in Yunnan and Guizhou. He was completely unprepared and had to lead his troops to war right after arriving in Guiyang. He had not yet adapted to the local climate. Even though Wei Xuliang had always been in good health, he caught a cold due to the rapid march these days and the unfamiliar climate.

"General, how are you?" a soldier asked with concern.

Wei Xuliang waved his hands and said, "I'm fine. You all should take a rest. We still have a long way to go. Otherwise, we won't be able to hold on."

"General, your forehead is very hot. How about I ask if there is a place nearby where I can rest and find a doctor to treat you? If you delay like this, I'm afraid..."

"What are you afraid of? I'm not as weak as you think. Back then in Xuanfu, I fought the Tartars with real swords and guns. What's a mere cold? I'll be fine after walking more and sweating." Wei Xuliang said nonchalantly, but as soon as he finished this, his throat felt itchy and he couldn't help coughing violently. Seeing this, his personal soldiers hurried forward, patting his chest and back. Wei Xuliang coughed for a long time before he recovered his breath.

"Damn it!" Wei Xuliang cursed inwardly. He was really unlucky. He actually caught a cold. Now he was feeling dizzy and might not be able to survive the rest of the march. If he fell down halfway, wouldn't it be a pity that he couldn't participate in the rest of the war? If he was still the general of Xuanfu, it would be fine, but the problem was that he was now the guerrilla general of Dali! Although he hadn't officially taken office yet, the official position was real.

Now that such a big thing has happened in Yunnan, how can a general in Yunnan miss the opportunity to quell the rebellion? Thinking of this, Wei Xuliang took a deep breath, and was about to stand up and cheer himself up, trying to find a way to carry it to Yunnan, when a burst of footsteps suddenly came towards him.

(End of this chapter)