Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhong Xiang is a psycho, or a bit paranoid.

He still had four states, one prison, and one army, so he could completely occupy Jinghu Road. However, he stopped fighting south and transferred his army back to fight with Ju Ming in Jiangling.

Especially in Guiyangjian, there are Dafu Yinkeng, Maoshou Yinkeng, Baizhu Yinkeng, Jiuding Yinkeng, and many other unknown small private silver mines.

As long as he captures Guiyang prison, he will have a lot of money waiting for him.

Continuing to hit the west, there are also upper and lower slots and silver pits. If you turn around and head east, you will find another Silver Pit of Longevity.

Does a lonely Jiangling need to be so tough?

Actually, we can’t reach the south...

Most of them are mountainous areas, the climate is slightly different, and the customs and habits are also different.

Also because the expansion was too rapid, there were not enough religious affairs officers. Not only is taxation in a mess, cities and villages are also in disarray.

The newly formed army lacked soldiers and faith, and a large number of local ruffians mixed into it.

There were even some gentry and merchants who felt that they could not stop Zhong Xiang's army and announced their conversion to Manichaeism in advance. Then, the gentry and merchants led the people to rebel, set up a altar to worship Prime Minister Zhong as the co-leader, and secretly gave money and bribes to Prime Minister Zhong's cronies.

Zhong Xiang, who lacked a religious affairs officer, took advantage of the situation and accepted this kind of surrender, as long as he paid a certain amount of tax.

In Hengzhou and Yongzhou, there are such speculators everywhere.

The Dachu regime quickly deteriorated and its reputation was extremely bad in the newly occupied areas. The gangsters turned into officers. Guess what they will do? Gentlemen and merchants become religious leaders. Guess what they will do?

Take Leiyang County as an example. The cronies and troops sent by Prime Minister Zhong only occupied the county seat, Xincheng Town and Jianyuan Yinkeng. Other vast rural areas are all controlled by local religious leaders. These speculators even used the banner of Manichaeism to attack each other and seize territory.

Prime Minister Zhong also tried to consolidate power and arranged for some small bosses to serve as altar leaders in rural altars in various places.

But the speculators have their own tricks, one will corrode one, and one pair will corrode the other.

Most of those who followed Zhong Xiang in rebellion were from miserable backgrounds. Those who can be sent to the south to take over the countryside are not very important people, and even their piety is questionable. Giving away both money and women, how can they still bear it? Once you go to the countryside, you will be wooed within a few days and completely forget what you came to do.

In the first few states that were conquered, the ruling class also gradually became corrupt.

From county towns to villages, religious leaders all think that they have achieved great results through hard work and what's wrong with a little enjoyment?

Zhong Xiang gradually lost control of the grassroots, but he happened to be following the grassroots route!

Faced with this change, Zhong Xiang did not feel vigilant.

Because everyone was obedient and not only carried out the orders seriously, but also praised Prime Minister Zhong. There was a false and powerful atmosphere permeating the Great Chu Kingdom.

Zhong Xiang has not preached in person for a long time. He was the first to leave the grassroots.

The battles in the south continued to fail, which Zhong Xiang attributed to terrain, climate and customs. He felt that it would be difficult to fight further south. In the future, we must develop north and east. Jiangling is the bridgehead across the Yangtze River, and we must defend it no matter how high the price is.

…

"Generalissimo, the Chu thieves have arrived from Mianshui to the Han River."

"Let Sun Lan keep it alive."

Ju Ming now has a headache. He planned to control the scale of the war, but as a result, the battlefield became larger and larger. Both sides invested more and more troops, so much so that Ju Ming did not send any more troops to the Zhijiang battlefield.

At this moment, Zhu Ming wanted to pry open Zhong Xiang's Tianling Cap to see how this person's brain circuit was formed.

Not only were there more and more Chu troops in Jiangling City, but as far away as Dongting Lake, the Chu troops also took the initiative to cross the Yangtze River and occupy Jianli County, Yusha County and Mianyang Town.

These three places are in a state of anarchy.

The officials of the Song Dynasty had run away long ago, Zhu Ming was too lazy to keep it in his pocket, and Prime Minister Zhong obviously didn't like it.

Being so despised is simply worthless.

Honghu Lake had not yet been formed in this era. In later generations, the surrounding areas of Honghu Lake, even dozens of miles to the northwest, northeast, and north, were all scattered swamp areas.

If there is a major flood, the country will be flooded for dozens of miles.

From the administrative changes in Jianli, Yusha, and Mianyang, we can see how miserable these places are. Sometimes it is promoted to a county, and sometimes it is downgraded to a town. On average, it changes once every twenty years.

The general situation is this: What, so-and-so county is flooded? Then reduce it to a town. A certain town was not flooded this time. It has a large population and the county government can be moved there to work.

For Ju Ming, it has no military value.

The Yangtze River was controlled by Prime Minister Zhong. If Zhu Mingruo went to occupy Jianli County, not only would he not be able to collect a few taxes, but he would also have to cross the swamp to transport military supplies. Once a war breaks out, it will be difficult to supply military food, so it is better to station troops north of the swamp area.

The army under Zhu Ming was now divided and stationed in Qianjiang, Hanyang and later Mianyang in order to prevent Zhong Xiang from moving north.

The reason why we say Mianyang in later generations is because Mianyang Town was not there at this time.

A military Chinese scribe named Cheng Hu came to Jiangling as an envoy.

Zhong Xiang received him very happily and asked, "What can you say, little Zhu Thief?"

Cheng Hu replied: "The Generalissimo asked you if you want an all-out war? If so, the Generalissimo will call in the 300,000 troops from Sichuan. If you don't want an all-out war, then please withdraw the troops crossing the river on the Eastern Front. .”

Zhong Xiang sneered: "Who went outside Jiangling City to rob food first? Who asked the sailors to loot Baishui Town? And who sent troops to capture my Zhijiang City?"

Cheng Hu said: "Your Excellency wrote a letter and promised to divide the river to control it, but he has been slow to occupy Jiangling and Zhijiang and is unwilling to leave. The generalissimo will naturally give corresponding rewards."

But Prime Minister Zhong said: "Zhijiang is north of the Yangtze River? It is in the middle of the Yangtze River!"

Cheng Hu said: "When we draw a river to govern, the Yangtze River will naturally be divided into two. Taking the center of the Yangtze River as the standard, the north belongs to us and the south belongs to you. Based on this calculation, Zhijiang is our county seat!"

Zhong Xiang laughed angrily: "What a sharp-tongued turban!"

Cheng Hu said with a serious expression: "The generalissimo just wants to ask, do you want a full-scale war? Within ten days, the Chu army crossing the river on the eastern front has not withdrawn. Please bear all the consequences on your own! Farewell."

The messenger left, and Zhong Xiang fell into deep thought alone.

He is at a loss now and doesn't know where to go.

I couldn't get it to the south. I also tried going west, but still couldn't get it. He believed that it was mainly due to the terrain. The territory of the Song Dynasty was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the gentry also actively recruited rural soldiers. It was no longer a situation where he could attack cities and lands casually.

On the contrary, it is best to fight to the north, where his navy has the upper hand and Jiangling is the bridgehead.

Although Ju Ming's army is strong, it will have to fight sooner or later, so it is better to fight now.

Do we really want an all-out war?

What if the battle is defeated and the red thieves take the opportunity to kill across the river?

…

Ju Ming was stalling for time, otherwise he would have no interest in sending an envoy to negotiate.

"We must win the battle quickly and capture Jiangling as soon as possible. If the delay continues, it will be difficult to supply military rations." Bai Chongwu is now in charge of military ration dispatching and makes suggestions purely from a logistical perspective.

Qian Chen has already become a civil servant and is not currently under Ju Ming's account.

Wang Zhen said: "The rainy season on the Yangtze River has come ahead of schedule this year, and it has already rained several times. The mud outside the city makes it difficult for the cavalry to gallop, and it is also difficult for the infantry to attack the city. We must wait until the weather clears and the ground is dry before attacking Jiangling."

Zhang Bor also said: "The weather is like this, and you cannot go against it."

"Going against the right time may lead to a great defeat." Wang Yuan followed suit.

Ju Ming is in a dilemma. Due to the surge in water levels in the Yangtze River, grain and grass transportation in Sichuan has been suspended.

It didn't rain in Hanzhong, but the wheat planting area was very small, and not much summer grain was confiscated. We had to wait until the autumn rice harvest to have food.

There was too much rain in the Jingjiang River Basin this year and it came too early, completely disrupting Ju Ming's plan.

After thinking about it, Zhu Ming had no choice but to order: "Withdraw the troops. I don't know when the rain will stop. The army is just consuming food and grass outside. Han Shizhong, He Ji and the others continue to be stationed in Zhijiang. The troops on the eastern front are also left behind, and there is no way to transport food by water. Too much consumption. The main force retreats to Jingmen and Dangyang, and waits until the rice is harvested before heading south to attack Jiangling."

It doesn't rain every day, but it does come every now and then, and the ground gets wet before it's even dry.

The earthworks during the siege were extremely difficult to carry out. Even if the artillery and musketry troops were brought back, the gunpowder would not be stable in such weather. The flat artillery catapults can still be used, but if the enemy troops go out of the city to cause destruction, the cavalry will not be able to take advantage of its mobility, and the infantry can only be mobilized to engage in the battle.

There is also the moat of Jiangling, which is directly connected to the Yangtze River and rises with the water level of the Yangtze River.

It was impossible to fill in the moat, and we could only build a pontoon bridge to cross. If the enemy troops were guarding the other side, they would suffer heavy casualties when crossing the moat. After the weather clears, you can build an earthen platform and suppress the enemy on the other side with high orders. The Tiger Crouching Cannon can also bombard the enemy, and casualties can be greatly reduced.

In addition, if the rain continues, the water from the Yangtze River may overflow into the residential areas outside the city, and Ju Ming's troops will have to fight on the city through water.

No need to waste any more.

Ju Ming ordered the troops to withdraw, leaving two elite troops behind, and the entire army left the camp one after another.

At this moment, the troops responsible for cutting off the rear sent someone to report: "The enemy troops have left the city, and all the city gates are open!"

Jiangling City's three walls, east, west, and north, and seven city gates opened at the same time, and countless Chu troops trotted out.

Zhu Ming went back to check in person, observed with a telescope for a while, and couldn't help but muttered: "Is the man named Zhong crazy? If there is a fortified city that cannot be defended, he has to go out to fight."

Zhong Xiang was not crazy, but made the decision to fight in the wild after careful consideration.

He knew that sooner or later he would have a battle with Ju Ming, so he could just stop fighting for the time being, but he had to give Jiangling City away.

If Ju Ming takes Jiangling, he will definitely make further progress next year and let the Kuizhou soldiers attack Yidu and Changyang. Because only by capturing Yidu and Sichuan's food and troops can we dare to go eastward with confidence.

Yidu and Zhijiang are gone, what about Songzi?

I'm afraid Songzi won't be able to keep it for long.

Why not take advantage of the muddy and humid rainy season, where it will be difficult for Ju Ming's cavalry to function, and it is probably difficult to use firearms, and he has more troops, and seize this opportunity to fight a decisive battle!

No matter how strong the enemy is, you will always have to face it. You can't hide in the city and defend it all your life.