Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 266
The Hanshui River in the upper reaches of Xiangyang is busy and lively.

Numerous people and materials flowed along land and water, and Gucheng, which was more than 120 miles away from Xiangyang, became an important transit point at this time.

Wen Anzhi, the governor of the capital, set up his own military flag on the head of the city, where he was responsible for transshipment of supplies for the population. After many large ships from Xiangyang arrived in Gucheng, it was difficult for them to continue sailing upwards.

The more than 100-mile waterway from Xiangyang to Gucheng is relatively smooth, but from Gucheng to Junzhou, there are many sandy beaches, and from Junxian to Yunyang, and even up to Yangxian County in Hanzhong, there are rocky beaches. As far as Nanzheng, Hanzhong Prefecture, there are also beaches.

The sandy beach section is wide but shallow and sandy, while the rocky beach section is mostly canyon-shaped, with two mountains facing each other, and the current is turbulent, so it is not suitable for navigation.

As the saying goes, the Han River bends and bends, and there are beaches everywhere, 360 famous beaches and 360 unnamed beaches.

Ten miles of Hanjiang River and Jiuli Beach, crossing the beach is like passing a customs.

There are many beaches, dangerous reefs and fast currents, making it difficult for ships on the lower reaches of the Han River and Yangtze River to sail here, so they can only be replaced by smaller boats.

When crossing dangerous shoals, you have to hang them on the beach.

When getting off the beach, the bow of the boat has to be turned around, and the tracker holds Manman down.It is even more troublesome when going to the beach. The goods have to be unloaded and transferred by mules or porters, and the guests have to disembark from the boat and run to the beach.

If you are not careful, the ship will be damaged, the cargo will be damaged, and even people will die.

Therefore, the more than 1000-mile Hanjiang River from Gucheng to Yunyang to Hanzhong is transported in separate lanes. Each section has special boatmen, trackers, caravans, etc., and only runs a section of the river that I am familiar with.

Those trackers are the poorest, because they have to keep going down the river to the bank, so they are bare buttocks without clothes, exposed to the wind and sun all day like black charcoal, but they do the most strenuous work. The minimum amount of food and money is barely enough to make ends meet.

Along the river, some small piers have naturally sprung up along the beaches that need to be transferred, where there are caravans and porters, as well as low-end prostitutes specializing in boatman caravans and other businesses here. The woman with fading looks leans against the door and sells her smile.

Some tea shops and restaurants are also extremely cheap. The tea is tea leaves and the meals are simple.

Only cities such as Gucheng and Junzhou have some better restaurants and girls.

However, at this time, there were too many people and supplies evacuated from Xiangfan, so now the Han River was blocked, and everyone moved slowly.

When the big ship arrived in Gucheng, after the cargo was unloaded, Wen Anzhi asked people to push the ship ashore and hide it, or directly dismantled it and transformed it into a small boat.

The people carried their burdens on their shoulders and carried the big migration.

The scene was actually very difficult. Wen Anzhi sent people to set up porridge stations along the way to provide porridge to the people who had migrated and ensured that they could go all the way to Yunyang.

There are many forces on the Han River who rely on the river to eat the river. Whether it is a prostitute, a tracker, a sailor, or a barbarian economy, or a porter, they all have to divide the land and draw water from it. These control a section of the river, or a small area. Guys in the block industry, hired thugs, colluded with the government, not only oppressed those who depended on the river for survival, but also stole goods, even kidnapped and blackmailed, deliberately seduced bandits in the mountains, and even deliberately set up financial stalls, set up tricks, and then lent usury, etc. Wait, become a swarm of blood-sucking locusts.

Wen'an stationed in Jiegu City, on the one hand to meet the people and transfer supplies, on the other hand, he sent out his own new pacesetters to sweep away these treacherous and small-timers.

Then they sent troops deep into the mountains to recruit bandits and bandits, and those who refused to surrender sent troops to wipe them out.

Numerous trackers, porters, sailors, etc. came to join the army. Wen Anzhi selected them and formed a lot of regiments to deploy along the Han River to protect the waterway, defend themselves, and even let them serve as cargo.

A large number of duck bow boats, shovel boats, loach boats, wool board boats, shuttle boats, etc. suitable for navigation and transportation in the upper reaches of the Han River converged in Gucheng to ship goods day and night.

These ships generally have a flat bow, a wide bottom, a high body, good stability, and a lot of cargo.However, these ships are also cumbersome, not flexible enough, and have a relatively deep draft. If they are not familiar with the channels and reefs, they are easy to run aground on rocks, or even capsize.

Wen Anzhi deliberately set up a porridge shed by the river, and by the side of the porridge shed, people kept reading newspapers, announcing the victory of the Ming Dynasty and the new policy of supervising the country.

They even promoted the New Deal to those people who migrated to the Xunyang mountain area. For example, when they went to Xunyang, they could divide the land and grant land. Many fields were reclaimed there before, but during the civil unrest in Chongzhen, the population loss was serious, and most of the land was barren. Now it is over. Divide the fields directly.

In addition, the three-year tax exemption for cultivated land and the ten-year tax exemption for newly reclaimed land will benefit the people.

Over there, the same policy of apportioning the income from the land to the land is also implemented, so it is no longer a single levy of small silver. In the past, the poor people did not have all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and the burden would be very light.

These good news and good policies have lifted the spirits of the people on the migration road.

There are also some wealthy gentry who had a good family background in Xiangfan, but now they are forced to move here. They are dissatisfied, but they have no choice.

They can only be coerced into joining this immigrant army.

Fortunately, their personal safety is guaranteed for the time being, and even the property they carry is also safe for the time being. Those soldiers can't say that their military discipline is very good, but there is Wen An, the sword-handling guard, so it's not too bad at all.

The newly recruited soldiers will also be assigned a share of land, and Wen Anzhi is still helping them find brides and help them get married.

Wang Guangtai led 3000 people and has been stationed between Gucheng and Xiangyang, but the Qing army has not been seen chasing them.

Ye Bushou found Luo Xiujin's more than [-] troops, but they stopped at the north bank of the Han River. After spending the night in the damaged Fancheng, they retreated to Dengzhou in the north.

Wen Anzhi was relieved when he got the news. A few days later, Yunyang's Gao Doushu, Xu Qiyuan, Wang Guangen and others rushed to Gucheng to join forces, and after some discussions.

Finally, it was decided that Wang Guangtai would retreat to Gucheng, command [-] troops, organize it into Gucheng Xie Town, and give him the title of commander-in-chief.

Wang Bin was stationed in Fangxian County and Baokang upstream of Zhushui, a tributary of the Han River, and also commanded [-] troops.

Liu Tiaoyuan was stationed in Junzhou, commanded three thousand troops, and was awarded the commander-in-chief.

In the end, there are eight towns of Gucheng, Junzhou, Fangxian, Yunxi, Zhuxi, Jinzhou, Shangjin, and Baihe, plus the general town of Yunyang, and nine towns.

The commander-in-chief of Baxie Town each raised [-] troops, and Wang Guangen, the governor of Yunyang, commanded [-] troops.

And Wen Anzhi, governor of the capital, Xu Qiyuan and Gao Doushu, the governors, were divided into patrols and Zhu Yiwei, each commanding a standard battalion of [-].

Nominally, Zhongkai Town has a total of 1000 troops, but the situation here in Yunyang is special. There are only [-] remnants in Yunyang, and the situation here is relatively remote and backward. The above is that soldiers are also people, and the land is divided into battles.

Stationed in various places, garrisoning fields and fighting.

Before the enemy comes, they will plow the fields and train in their spare time. When the enemy comes, they will gather and go out to fight.

If there is a mission, troops will also be dispatched to fight.

Gao Doushu was stationed in Jinzhou (Ankang), which was already the boundary of Hanzhong. The imperial court once set up a Xing'an office here. He, the governor of Hanzhong, and a general soldier were stationed here, with 6000 people.

Wen Anzhi and Wang Guangtai were stationed together in Gucheng, which was Xiangyang's first gateway to Yunyang in the north. Back then, Zhang Xianzhong asked Gucheng to surrender to Zhao'an, and later killed officials and rebelled here.

Governor Xu Qiyuan of Xunyang and Admiral Wang Guangen were stationed in Yunyang together.

The sub-patrol troops are stationed in Shanyang, which is adjacent to Shangluo and Wuguan, and is an important gateway leading to Guanzhong.

"The battle of Jingzhou and Wuchang, do we really need to send troops to support it?" Xu Qiyuan asked.

Wen Anzhi told him, "The good news I just received is that His Highness Jian Guo has captured Hangzhou with his troops. After more than half a month of siege, the admiral of Hangzhou feared suicide, and the rest of the officials surrendered in Kaesong, taking it without bloodshed."

"The siege of Jingzhou has been going on for almost a month. Nine general officers led 20 soldiers and civilians to besiege the city. They attacked day and night. Zheng Siwei couldn't bear it anymore. Wuchang was overwhelmed with no troops to reinforce him. It is estimated that Jingzhou will soon be able to Take it down."

He smiled and said, "General Li Chixin, Marquis of Xingguo, sent a letter saying that we don't need to go south any longer. By the time we travel thousands of miles south, they probably have already finished fighting and retreated."

"Isn't Jingzhou guarding too?"

"If you don't guard, these days, the Marquis of Xingguo and his nine towns are actually besieging Jingzhou and sweeping the periphery of Jingzhou. Just like us, they are also moving people, moving money and food. After taking Jingzhou, they will demolish Jingzhou City and then retreat to the city. Yiling, Guizhou, Xingshan, Changyang, and even Wushan and Daning in the Badong Three Gorges area.”

Xiangyang seized and abandoned it, and now Jingzhou will also abandon it.

This can not help but make people somewhat surprised.

"The latest information, the Tartars are serious this time. They are dispatching elites from the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia from the north and even outside the Liaodong Pass to go south to the Huguang and Jiangnan battlefields. Fight them head-on, leave after fighting, retreat to the dangerous mountainous area, and fight the Tartars."

"Relying on the favorable location, lure the enemy to go deep, block the attack layer by layer, defeat them one by one, and don't fight them head-on."

Gao Doushu is Yunyang's siege city, and he has a good way of using troops. "Why don't we take Jingzhou, gather the two groups of troops from Yunyang and Jingzhou, go down the Han River and Jingjiang River, go straight to Wuchang, and unite with Zhu Dushi The troops destroyed Wuchang, and then went down the river to fight Jiujiang, Nanchang, and Anqing all the way, and finally went all the way to Nanjing?"

"The High Fuyuan's idea is good, but in fact we just caught the Tartars by surprise this time, taking advantage of the enemy's emptiness, but now the main force of the Tartars has gone south, so we accept it as soon as we see it. Next is It is necessary to integrate all kinds of people, step up training, and replenish better equipment..."

"Not to mention anything else, let's just say that our Yunyang Zhongkai town has more than 4 troops in the thirteen towns, but in fact it has expanded tenfold. Many soldiers have just been recruited, and only a dog-beating stick is in their hands , there is a shortage of officers, no training, and even the basic banner orders, how to fight?"

"So we have to garrison all over the place first, train while farming, and step up to build ordnance. It will take more time to transform these soldiers into combatable soldiers. Otherwise, we will be pulled to Jingzhou and Wuchang now. The Qing army may collapse once it hits."

Xu Qiyuan asked worriedly, "Now that the main force of the Tartars is going south, we voluntarily abandoned Xiangyang and Jingzhou and other strong cities, but they continue to attack us after occupying them. How can we defend?"

"The decree of the supervisory state is that when the enemy advances, we retreat, when the enemy is stationed, we harass, when the enemy is tired, we fight, and when the enemy retreats, we pursue. These mountainous areas in Yunyang are not where they can come and go when they want, marching, supplying, It will be very difficult, and we will then have the opportunity to consume, repel or even annihilate them."

(End of this chapter)