The tenth day of the first lunar month.
Yuan Jixian, who was stationed in Yuezhou, received news: the main force of the bandit Zhang Xianzhong left Sichuan and entered Chu, and was gathering near Jingzhou with unclear intentions.
Yuan Jixian immediately perked up.
He called all the generals together to discuss countermeasures: "What does Zhang Xianzhong's departure from Sichuan to Chu mean?"
"This means that he suffered a defeat in Sichuan and was frightened by Qin Liangyu, so he had no choice but to transfer the main force back to Huguang." Lu Ding said.
"Yes, just as I thought!" Yuan Jixian nodded, "Although we don't have as many troops as them, we can fight them."
After hearing Yuan Jixian's idea, all the generals stepped forward and were ready to go.
Their total strength at present is 65,000 men.
Among them, Ma Jinzhong and Hui Dengxiang's 15,000 troops were stationed in Mianyang County and Jingling County west of Wuchang respectively.
The remaining 50,000 included 8,000 cavalry, 35,000 infantry and 10,000 navy.
How many troops did Zhang Xianzhong have?
When they entered Sichuan, the total number of troops was about 200,000.
Excluding the elderly, the weak, women and children, there were only 150,000 people who could actually fight.
Zhang Xianzhong was forced to withdraw from Sichuan, which shows that he suffered heavy losses.
Otherwise, I would never do such a futile thing.
How much was lost exactly?
Yuan Jixian was not sure, but he guessed that Zhang Xianzhong had lost at least one-third of his troops.
Fifteen thousand minus fifty thousand leaves one hundred thousand.
Among these 100,000 people, at most 40% are elite troops, and the rest are refugees.
On the other hand, after the Ming army dismissed the old, weak, sick and disabled, only the elite troops remained!
In terms of military strength, Zhang Xianzhong had no advantage.
Deputy General Lu Ding had been fined a year's salary for his crimes. Seeing the opportunity to kill the enemy, he was eager to make a contribution and said, "Governor Yuan, the bandits have just been defeated and their morale is unstable. We should go upstream and besiege them in the Jingzhou area."
"After Qin Liangyu's army leaves Sichuan, we will join forces to attack the bandits."
"You mean, take the initiative?"
"Yes." Lu Ding replied.
Yuan Jixian looked at the others and got the same answer from their eyes.
Just when everyone thought that Yuan Jixian would deploy troops according to their ideas, Yuan Jixian suddenly laughed: "Everyone, you are all wrong."
Wrong?
The generals were puzzled and looked at him.
Yuan Jixian smiled and said, "The reason why the bandit Li Chuang left Sichuan and entered Chu was, on the one hand, because he suffered heavy casualties, and on the other hand, he needed to rest and recuperate. Looking at the entire Huguang region, the north is Li Chuang's territory, and the south and east are our Ming Dynasty's territory."
"In order to avoid being attacked from both sides, he will never stay in Jingzhou, but will try to break through Changsha and go to the southern part of Huguang."
"The terrain there is complicated. Even if we are defeated, we can escape to the mountains for refuge."
"Then...how does Governor Yuan want to fight?" Lu Ding asked.
Yuan Jixian stared at the map for a while and said, "No matter how he fights, we will keep our main force in Yueyang, especially the navy!"
"The bandits will have to cross the Yangtze and Yuan rivers if they go south, and our navy will face a fierce battle."
......
Early morning of the eighth day of the first lunar month.
The gate of Jingzhou city was suddenly opened from the inside.
Ai Nengqi led 15,000 troops out of the city and headed eastward to attack Qianjiang.
Ma Jinzhong had already run away.
The moment Yuan Jixian left Jingzhou, he led a large army to retreat to Mianyang County.
After arriving in Qianjiang, Ai Nengqi set up camp outside the city.
The next morning, the army set out, built a pontoon bridge to cross the Han River, and then attacked Jingling County.
The one stationed in Jingling County was Hui Dengxiang.
The army was stationed outside the city. When they saw the enemy attacking, Hui Dengxiang personally led his troops out of the camp to defeat the enemy.
The main forces of both sides did not go out, but instead sent out small units to test the waters.
The result of the test surprised Ai Nengqi.
Both sides sent 500 people to fight. More than half of the Dashi Army's casualties were sustained, while the Ming Army's casualties were only a few dozen.
It is obvious that this Ming army is not easy to deal with.
Afternoon.
The two sides clashed again.
However, both sides did not send out their main forces, but instead doubled the number of players.
One thousand Ming troops faced two thousand Dashi troops.
Although the Dashi Army had an advantage in numbers, its personnel quality, organizational discipline, and equipment were inferior to those of the Ming Army.
Once again they were badly defeated.
Looking at Hui Dengxiang's well-organized army, Ai Nengqi did not dare to continue the attack. He ordered the front army to become the rear army and slowly retreat to the camp.
Hui Dengxiang did not pursue the enemy and ordered his troops to retreat.
That night.
Li Dingguo led 5,000 elite cavalrymen to quietly leave Jingzhou and rush towards Jingling County.
At the same time, a group of soldiers rushed out of the Chengtian Prefecture city gate in the north.
Leading the troops were Li Yan and Hong Niangzi.
They agreed to send out troops at the same time to encircle and annihilate Hui Dengxiang.
Because there were spies in the city, they chose to send out troops at night in order to prevent the news from leaking.
Xiang Huideng was also not idle. After nightfall, he ordered the camp to be moved and the stronghold to be established.
That's right, he decided to run away.
He was born a bandit and is very familiar with their fighting style.
If he were Ai Nengqi, knowing that he could not beat the opponent, he would run away without hesitation instead of continuing the confrontation.
"Sir, are we going to raid the camp at night?" asked Hui Dengxiang's personal soldiers.
"Robbery, go to Mianyang tonight to meet Ma Jinzhong."
"Why...? Governor Yuan will punish you if he finds out!"
"Why?" Hui Dengxiang sneered: "Ai Nengqi knew he was defeated but refused to retreat. It's obvious that he wanted to keep me here. How many years have I been a bandit? This little trick can't be hidden from me."
"Let's punish them, it's better than the annihilation of the whole army!" Hui Dengxiang's eyes were extremely firm: "The baggage is in front, the elite troops are in the rear, and we will stop fighting and move the camp at night!"
"Those who run slowly will do so at their own risk."
These five thousand elite soldiers moved extremely quickly and made extremely quiet noises.
Even the defenders on the city wall were not alarmed.
The next morning.
Ai Nengqi was stunned by the news sent by the scout: "Run away...run away?"
"Well, we chased them eastward for twenty miles and found no trace of the Ming army. According to my guess, if nothing unexpected happened, they ran away at nightfall last night."
"Damn it!" Ai Nengqi was furious.
In the evening, Li Dingguo, Li Yan and Ai Nengqi met in the west of the city.
"If he runs away, what should we do next?" Ai Nengqi asked.
Li Yan and Li Dingguo exchanged glances and said at the same time: "Chase!"
As it was getting late, the army rested on the spot.
Ai Nengqi led thousands of Dashi troops into the city to replenish military supplies.
They said it was to replenish military supplies, but in fact it was just robbing!
After entering the city, his soldiers looted all the food from the people in the city.
At first, they were just stealing food.
The rush got out of control.
Money, livestock, women...
They took away everything they could, and broke or burned anything they couldn't.
Those who resisted were either killed or burned to death in the fire.
Soon, Jingling County was engulfed in flames!
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