Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 538 The Rise of Shunying
Huguang.

On the birthday of a tiger plum, the generals of Zhongzhen Zhongyi and Zhongyi came to celebrate the birthday.

Yiling Prefecture City.

At this point, the water is flat, and the mountains are mausoleums. This gateway to the Three Gorges, the throat of Sichuan and Hubei, leads to Bashu on the top, and leads to Jingxiang on the bottom.

After three months of siege, the Qing army in the city suffered heavy casualties and was finally broken into the city. In this battle, the troops of the original Shunying camp once again showed their sturdy nature. They fought hard for three months without retreating at all.

And the downstream admiral Zhu Shengli was Li Chixin's adopted son, so he cooperated very well, leading his troops to approach the outskirts of Jingzhou, forcing the defenders of Jingzhou city not to go west.The governor Zhu Dadian and the governor Du Yinxi also led their troops to garrison Baling, Yuezhou, and pointed their swords at Wuchang.

Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng led two towns to storm Yiling in March, but Jingzhou, Wuchang, and Xiangyang were unable to have a single soldier rush to rescue, and finally watched Yiling city fall.

After Yiling City was broken, Shangjingzhou was completely recovered by the Ming army.

The Qing army in Jingzhou City was frightened three times a day, and they were in constant panic all day long.

In early winter, the wharf along the Yiling River is busy.

Countless ships sailed from the lower reaches of the south of the Yangtze River, carrying boats of salt, grain, cloth and other military supplies into Huguang Bashu. After Yiling was captured, it became an important transit port.

Yiling was originally the starting point of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. As an important water and land port in Sichuan and Chu, after being controlled by the Ming army, it naturally became prosperous and lively quickly.

At the wharf, ships are berthed in rows, and goods are coming in and out continuously.

In the city, the vegetable sellers on the street are also hawking along the street, which is a good atmosphere of urban fireworks.

Of the eight city gates in Yiling, six are built along the river.

Relying on Yuquan Mountain in the north, facing the Yangtze River in the south, down the river is the Jianghan Plain, and up the river is the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, which leads directly to Shu.

In this place where the three rivers converge, the transportation is convenient, and the land is fertile. It has both dangers to defend and fertile soil to cultivate.

For the generals of the Shunying, taking down Yiling was very remarkable.

Since the failure of the second attack on Jingzhou, the Zhongzhen Camp has also experienced a period of trough.
Accepted the imperial court's recruitment, got support and finally won Jingzhou and executed the traitor.

But at that time, he didn't have the strength to defend, so he could only withdraw money and food and abandon it.

The soldiers and horses retreated to the mountainous area of ​​western Hubei. Later, after cooperating with Zhu Dadian and others to quell the rebellion, the imperial court divided them into more territories. Give them a place, and it's a big one.

Li Chixin was the head of all the tribes in Shunying, especially after Li Zicheng's younger brother Li Zijing and general Tian Jianxiu rebelled and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he was Li Zicheng's nephew. His seniority in the camp, as well as the fact that he was reused by the Ming court after he advocated recruitment, all made him the number one brother in Shunying.

Li Chixin had been stationed in Badong County before, and after a period of development, he led his troops eastward and captured Guizhou City, Xingshan and other places.

In the end, the two towns were merged into one, and the old brothers all convened, gathered a small 10 horses, and finally took the important town of Yiling in three months.

After capturing Yiling, the city belonged to Li Chixin, and the other brothers shared food, armor, weapons, and even a lot of cattle, farm tools, and people.

Li Chixin's territory increased greatly, starting from Badong in the west, bordering Wushan in Kuizhou, Sichuan, and reaching Huya Mountain in Yiling Prefecture in the east, overlooking Jingzhou from a high place.

To the south, it reaches the north bank of the Qianjiang River, bordering the two chieftains of Shuijinyuan Tongtapingsi and Wangfeng Shibaosi, and going north to the borders of Maoerguan, Jinxiangping, Xunyang Mansion, Xiangyang Mansion, and Jingmen Prefecture.

The imperial court deliberately designated Li Chixing's current territory as Yiling Mansion.

The 45-year-old Li Chixin has completely turned over now. Thinking about it, more than a year ago, he was at the back of the Northern Shaanxi Palace, and finally went south through Gansu after a hard detour. He was blocked by He Zhen in Hanzhong. From Sichuan to Huguang, the two attacks on Jingzhou failed.

At the last moment, he decided to accept the Ming court's recruitment. At that time, many brothers did not understand.

But now, he has [-] soldiers under his command, and the armor of the whole army has been completely renewed. Everyone is wearing armor, and even replaced a lot of bird guns. He even restored a cavalry and built a new navy.

This strength is much stronger than when he first arrived in Huguang. At that time, many of his subordinates didn't even have weapons, let alone less armor.

Now he wants territory, territory, and soldiers.

"Father, Uncle Gao and the others are here!"

Gao Yigong, the admiral of Zhongyi Town, was Li Zicheng's brother-in-law. Although he was younger than Li Chixin, regardless of his seniority, although Li Chixin was a few years older than Li Zicheng, he had to be called Uncle Gao Yigong.

"It's been hard work on the road!"

Li Chixin personally greeted him at the pier. Gao Yigong gave him the name Gao Bizheng. Now he has been promoted to An Guogong, the admiral of Zhongyi Town, with the seal of General Longxiang, and the right servant of the Ministry of War.

He had been joining hands with Li Chixin in the Zhongzhen Camp before, when Li Zijing, Tian Jianxiu, and others surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, the Zhongyi Town collapsed. Later, Liu Tichun, He Yaoqi, and Yuan Zongdi in the original Zhongyi Town were still loyal and loyal. After Yang Wang Guang'en's rebellion, the emperor decreed to restore Zhongyi Town, and appointed Gao Bizheng as the admiral.

The land is allocated to the north of the Jingjiang River and the south of the Hanshui River, in the two prefectures of Xun and Jing.

Before attacking Yiling, Gao Bizheng also launched a battle of Xing'an. Several groups of troops from Zhongyi Town fought against Xunyang Wang Guangen in Xing'an. Li Chixin also led Zhongzheng's various ministries to rush for reinforcements. He joined He Zhen, Sun Shoufa and others in a battle. Not only repelled Wang Guangen, but also repelled Ma Ke and Bai Guangen who came to help.

Therefore, He Zhen and others were able to establish a firm foothold in the eastern part of Hanzhong, and the imperial court also established Xing'an Mansion, starting from the tea town of Shiquan County in the west, reaching Pingli in the east, and Daba Mountain in the south.

Although Shunying had old grievances with people like He Zhen and Sun Shoufa, He Zhen was originally a famous general who was forced to surrender to Shunjun because of the situation, but in the end he stabbed a knife with his back and surrendered to stop Li Chixin and the others.And Sun Shoufa is even more peculiar, he was also a Ming military general.

In the early years, he served as a garrison under Hong Chengchou's command. He participated in the capture and killing without sticking to the mud. Later, he became a general and defeated Zhang Xianzhong. Entering the Qinling Mountains and Zhongnan Mountains to fight guerrillas will not surrender.

Miao Shihua, who had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty with Wang Guangen's rebellion, was originally a general of Sun Shoufa's department. He recruited troops in the mountains to resist Li Zicheng, and he did not forget to send Miao Shihua to Xunyang for reinforcements.

After Li Zi's success or failure, Sun Shoufa was still leading his troops in Zhongnanshan to call for anti-Qing, he was quite a figure.

However, Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng still sent troops to rescue Xing'an, regardless of previous suspicions, after all, they are now ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

This battle was well fought, Haoge and Wu Sangui fought against Zhang Xianzhong in the west, and they didn't have much energy to look around, so they only sent two traitors, Ma Ke and Bai Guangen, to reinforce Wang Guangen.

As a result, the two towns of Zhongzheng and Zhongyi of the Ming army came to help regardless of previous suspicions, and Wang Guangtai, Wang Guangen's younger brother, turned against Wang Changdu, the younger brother sent by his elder brother to contact him, and offered Gao Doushu a plan to do everything he could.

Wang Guangen really thought that his brother was working as an internal response in Xing'an, but he was deceived into an ambush and was defeated.

Gao Bizheng and the others went around and cut off his supply route, beating Wang Guangen almost never to return home, and barely managed to return to Xunyang and defended the important town.

But after this battle, the south bank of the Han River in Yunyang Prefecture was completely lost.

After the war, generals Gao Doushu, He Zhen, Sun Shoufa, Wang Guangtai, Wang Bin, and Chen Jiao sent orders to garrison Xing'an Mansion and restored Zhongkai Township.

Gao Bizheng and the others occupied the area south of the Hanshui River in Yunyang Prefecture. Afterwards, Gao Bizheng and the others handed over the original territory of Jingzhou Prefecture north of Badong to Li Chixin.

So the current situation came into being, Gao Doushu's Zhongkai was stationed in Xing'an Mansion, Gao Bizheng's Loyalty was stationed in Yunyang Mansion, and Zhongzhen Li Chixin was stationed in Yiling Mansion.

The rest of the Shunying generals were stationed in Shizhou and other border areas.

Among the thirteen loyal families, Li Chixin's family occupies one, with eight thousand soldiers, the strongest.

The imperial camp Zhu Shengli was stationed in Yueyang and Changde, the governor Zhu Dadian was stationed in Changsha and Baoqing, the governor Du Yinxi was stationed in Hengzhou, and governed Chenzhou and Yongzhou.

Originally, Li Chixin's Zhongzhen Town had only [-] soldiers last time, but now he alone has [-] soldiers, and the other twelve families add up to tens of thousands.

"Tiger, I've heard some rumors recently, and I can't sit still." Gao Bizheng said directly when he saw Li Chixin.

"Let's talk about the city first, the people on the docks are talking too much." Li Chixin knew what he was going to say.

All the way to Yiling City, entered Li Chixin's Admiral's Mansion.

"I heard that the imperial court is going to restore Zhongwu, and also set up Zhongzhengying?" Gao Bizheng asked as soon as he sat down.

"I have heard some rumors, but one thing has been confirmed. The supervisor Zhu Dadian will return to court. From now on, the governor and governor of Huguang, He Butang, will be in charge of the overall situation." Li Chixin said.

"Why is the imperial court tossing around every day? Isn't this some kind of order change? Earlier, we set up thirteen battalions for Zhongzheng, and then divided them into two towns, and then set a limit of [-], and then a limit of [-]. Now what is going to be changed?" Gao Bizheng was very dissatisfied, complained, and even revealed his uneasiness and worry.

He always felt that the imperial court made changes like this because it distrusted them, the Shunying generals.

"I heard that the emperor changed all the titles?"

"Well, it has been adjusted. The title of the clan has been changed the most. It has been changed to the tenth class, and it is no longer hereditary. What is especially amazing is that this time, almost all the titles of the clan have been cut, leaving There are 31 county kings."

"Our surnames with different surnames are seventh-class, and there will be no hereditary inheritance in the future. There will be a first-class descendant and a lifetime-only second class."

"Then what about the dukedom of our country?" Gao Bizheng asked.

"I don't know the specifics. There is no news yet. I guess it might be the first class in the world."

Gao Bizheng felt a little uncomfortable, feeling that the emperor would not keep his word, which is not a good sign.

"Does the emperor feel that we are no longer needed?"

Li Chixin didn't think so, "I think His Majesty treats us very well, doesn't he?"

Hao Yaoqi and Hao Yongzhong, who had once met the emperor, nodded, "Indeed, there's nothing to say about that."

Gao Bizheng has never met the Son of Heaven, "But what's going on now?"

This time Li Chixin celebrated his 45th birthday, there was actually no need for such a big fanfare, but everyone heard some rumors, so they took this opportunity to get together and want to have a good discussion.

"I don't think this is a bad thing. It is a good thing for the twelve families in Xiangxi to set up Zhongwu and Zhongzheng."

Hao Yaoqi had a different opinion at this time, "I don't think things will be so simple. Judging from the rumors received now, the emperor is stepping up the expansion of the imperial army. I heard that the Huguang camp in Laiheng will be split into Huguang and Jiangxi’s two battalions, provincial battalions in all provinces have to be cut and merged, and it seems that the direct subordinate battalions of governors, governors, inspectors, and sub-inspectors have to be cancelled. You said that under such circumstances, how can they expand our camps instead?”

Liu Tichun said, "From what I've heard, it seems that except for the imperial battalion, the rest of the soldiers and horses will keep seven outlying towns. For those of us, we will only leave Tiger as an outlying town. Why do we now say we want to set up Zhongwu, Zhongwu, and others?" Zhongzheng?"

Several people couldn't figure it out for a moment.

"Laiheng, he knows more about the affairs of the eastern court than we do, so ask him."

(End of this chapter)