Yunyang, Guangxiang and Xiangyang are all part of the Han River Basin. Guangxiang is located in the upper reaches of Xiangyang, and Yunyang is the upper reaches of Guangxiang. Not far south of this section of Han River, there are two tributaries, namely Baishui River and Malan River. They both flow from the southwest to the northeast, and the trend is close to the parallel line: Baishui River flows through Zhushan to Yunyang, Malan River flows through Fangxian, and Gucheng (the dormant land of Zhang Xianzhong back then) flows to near Guangxiang.

Whether the Ming army will arrive at the city of Xiangyang this time depends on the specific situation after the dispatch. If the food and grass harvest is abundant, you may be able to show off your power in front of Xiangyang City. If the income is limited, of course, it is better to go back to the house as soon as possible. Yunyang and Guangxiang are roughly the main target of the Ming army this time.

Although the roads in Huguang are much stronger than Kuizhou, the land route is still relatively rugged. Every time the Ming army raided the Qing army's controlled area, they used waterways as much as possible. In the past, when the Ming army attacked Yunyang, Hao Yaoqi would use Zhushan instead of Fangxian as the starting base. The distance between Zhushan and Fangxian was not far, and the straight-line distance from Yunyang was almost the same. However, starting from Zhushan, which was slightly closer to the northwest, the Baishui River waterway could be used. For the Ming army, which lacked manpower and animal power, this waterway made it much more convenient for them to march or carry supplies; and if they attacked Guangxiang, the departure base would definitely be Fangxian because Malan River could be used.

Because the attack on the Ming army was strong, it was planned to fight two routes at the same time. Liu Tichun of Badong, Li Laiheng of Xingshan and Hao Yaoqi's main force set out from Fang County to attack Guangxiang, while Yuan Zongdi of Dachang and He Jin of Daning attacked Yunyang together with Zhushan's garrison troops. This plan was taken out by Li Laiheng, and he thought it was safer. If the Qing army in Xiangyang had the intention to support the upstream, they would first encounter a stronger Ming army along the Han River. This deployment would help deter the Qing army in Xiangyang and allow Yuan Zongdi, He Jin and others in the upper reaches of Yunyang to operate safely.

However, Hao Yaoqi believed that this was a mere move, because the elite Qing army in Huguang were still deep in the southwest and could not return. Even he himself was enough to deal with the local defenders, not to mention the reinforcements from other Ming troops. Moreover, this deployment would also lead to the division of Hao Yaoqi's troops in two: some followed Li Laiheng and Liu Tichun to attack Guangxiang; the other part followed Yuan Zongdi and He Jin to attack Yunyang, but since Li Laiheng insisted, Hao Yaoqi was not stubborn.

After informing the surroundings of Deng Ming's participation in the battle, Yuan Zongdi thought he could set off within a few days, but unexpectedly, he received an urgent message from Badong Liu Tichun a few days later, asking Dachang's army to set off a few days later, and wait for him to come from Badong to join Yuan Zongdi in the procession.

The cause of the incident was still Li Laiheng. He was located at the eastmost part of the Ming army in Kuidong and shouldered the responsibility of guarding against the Qing army in Yiling. Originally, Li Laiheng was not particularly active in sending troops this time because he felt it was a bit difficult to get distracted. After some consideration, he repeatedly examined the military situation sent by Hao Yaoqi. Li Laiheng admitted that his plan was a bit too conservative, and Hao Yaoqi was enough to form an advantage over the Qing army in Yunyang and Xiangyang. Since this was the case, Li Laiheng thought it would be better to stay and continue to monitor the Qing army in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

In addition, the Ming army in Kuidong area was afraid of poverty, so they had to carefully weigh the pros and cons before going to war every time, and always wanted to exchange as little as possible for as much profit as possible. Li Laiheng felt that since the Qing army did not have his own troops, the Qing army would have no chance of fighting, so he might as well not go, and the less participation of the troops would be less expensive. The expenses of these thousands of people going out are not a decimal, and it would be better to keep them for more important times in the future.

Deng Ming could understand this kind of psychology. He had seen the habit of saving money in the Kuidong Ming army when he was in Chongqing. At that time, in order to save food and grass, he first sent part of the Ming army such as Yuan Zongdi to Chongqing to build a camp. Most of them gathered very late, intending to complete all the preliminary work at the outpost troops, and then arrive at the city to start siege - in order to achieve the goal of saving food and grass to the greatest extent, but it also gave Tan Yi an opportunity to take advantage of it.

Li Laiheng decided not to go, so Liu Tichun took his troops to Fangxian and Hao Yaoqi to sweep the suburbs of Guangxiang. Yuan Zongdi and He Jin still went to Zhushan and met with another Hao army. But just before Liu Tichun set out, he received a report from Yuan Zongdi that Deng Ming had arrived in Dachang and was preparing to participate in the battle. Liu Tichun changed his plan and wrote to Hao Yaoqi to let him concentrate the troops in Fangxian and Zhushan to sweep Guangxiang alone, while Liu Tichun led his troops to meet with Yuan Zongdi and He Jin to be responsible for the direction of Yunyang.

"There will be no problem with the deployment of the army being repeatedly modified like this, right?" Deng Ming understood the consequences and was a little worried about the future of the march. He asked Yuan Zongdi: "Is General Hao's military strength too weak?"

"Mr. Deng is too worried." Yuan Zongdi was not very worried. He told Deng Ming that Hao Yaoqi must be the main force when sending troops this time, because the target is closest to his base: "General Hao himself can dispatch about 10,000 troops, and the sum of our three families is at most this number, most of which is less than yet."

Because other generals were on an expedition, they would have the risk of losing too much. In order to show Deng Ming's military appearance, Yuan Zongdi dispatched 3,000 people, of which 2,550 were auxiliary soldiers. Liu Tichun, who came from Badong soon after, was stronger than Yuan Zongdi, with 3,500 troops, of which 1,200 war soldiers.

After Liu Tichun arrived, Yuan Zongdi immediately led his troops to set off without wasting time. Nearly 7,000 Ming troops headed towards the upper reaches of the Daning River and soon arrived in Daning to meet with He Jin. Because the third prince followed the army, He Jin dispatched more troops than he had originally planned, with a total of 4,000 soldiers, but the war soldiers were also 1,200. In this way, the size of the Ming army reached 10,000, which was even stronger than Yuan Zongdi had originally estimated.

During this military operation, Deng Ming once again realized the importance of the Ming army in Kuidong to waterways. Daning's location was very close to the north of Fengjie, which was slightly easterly than the north. If the Ming army went from Daning to Fengjie, it would definitely march eastward to Dachang first, follow the Daning River to Wuxian on the Yangtze River, and then turn around and go west through Kuimen to Fengjie.

The destination of this marching, Zhushan, is located in the east of Dachang. After the Ming army set out, they walked northwest along the Daning River. After the meeting in Daning, the entire army continued to march northwest. They would go all the way to the end of Daning, and then enter Shaanxi and go directly to Zhenping. In this way, these ten thousand Ming troops entered the Baishui River Basin, and the lower reaches are the mountainous roads they were going to at the junction of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hubei, which is easier to walk along the river, and it can also make the army easy to replenish fresh water.

Deng Ming saw that there were few cavalry in the Ming army, and horses were easily killed on the mountain roads. The Ming army in Kuidong was unable to raise a large number of horses due to the shortage of supplies. They were unable to plant even the seasonings that everyone liked, and almost all the limited military camps were used to produce grain.

Fang County and Zhushan area are all the spheres of influence of Hao Yaoqi. Before the main force of the Ming army arrived in Zhushan, the pioneer had already contacted the Ming army in Zhushan. As Liu Tichun expected, Hao Yaoqi accepted his suggestion and had transferred the troops in Zhushan area back to Fang County. According to Li Laiheng's plan, Hao Yaoqi's troops would be divided into two, and both places would share the gains with friendly troops. Although the Ming army in Kuidong had a relatively close relationship and was not petty about the capture, they would be divided more and less. Even if they didn't say anything, they would inevitably feel knotted, especially because everyone was so poor.

If Hao Yaoqi participated in the distribution between the two groups, the possibility of conflict would be doubled. Now Liu Tichun's suggestion was very much, so that Guangxiang would be attacked by himself, and he would have the harvest alone. Although everyone had agreed to give more to Yuan Zongdi, at that time, Hao Yaoqi gave more to him and gave less to him, and no matter how much Yuan Zongdi was given, he would have to bear his affection. If he was with Liu Tichun, if the harvested materials were divided equally, Hao Yaoqi would have to consider how much he should give to Yuan Zongdi. If he gave less, he might not only not be grateful, but also be considered stingy.

In addition, the three Ming troops worked together to sweep the surrounding areas of Yunyang, which would definitely be able to restrain the Qing army there from being unable to reinforce the Han River downstream. This was a powerful support. In this way, Hao Yaoqi's purpose of asking everyone to send troops together was achieved. Although the third prince personally led the army was a good opportunity to make friends, Hao Yaoqi felt that it was very important to obtain supplies. Moreover, after the end of this battle, the third prince would definitely not pass through Fang County and not enter, so it would not be too late to see him again. If this trip was a good harvest, Hao Yaoqi thought that he could give the third prince a generous gift.

There is no large army of Hao Yaoqi in Zhushan now, and a servant of Hao Yaoqi received Liu Tichun and others. The servant took three generals to the warehouse in Zhushan, which contained many small cars, ropes and other items. Although it was simple, they were all transport tools. There were also a large number of ships on the dock of Baishui River. Deng Ming saw that most of them were canoes and wooden rafts, which were built by Hao Yaoqi in Zhushan for many years.

There is no river connection between Zhushan and Fang County. Every time Hao Yaoqi attacks Yunyang, he can only use the ships here and cannot bring the ships from Fang County. Therefore, whether it is the Baishui River or the Malan River, Hao Yaoqi has a large number of ships. Although there is only one group of water camp personnel, there are two sets of equipment required for the water camp, so it is more convenient no matter which side Hao Yaoqi wants to attack.

Hao Yaoqi could not move the ships from Fang County to Zhushan, and Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun and others could not transport the ships from the Daning River and the Yangtze River to Baishui River, so Hao Yaoqi sent a servant to guard these important equipment. If there was only one mistake in these ships, Yuan Zongdi and the others would be in vain. In the future, Hao Yaoqi would need to rebuild the wooden rafts if he wanted to attack Yunyang again.

"The head of the family said that Mr. Deng and all the dukes in the river can be used by them, but the number is how many, the head of the family remembers clearly. If you see the shortage after you come back, you will have to compensate him for the new one." The servant said with a smile.

After hearing this joke, Yuan Zongdi and the others also laughed.

Liu Tichun smiled and said, "It's all the Dukes and Marquis, but I'm still as stingy as before. Who would still be greedy for him to break rafts? It's not enough for me to transport it to the Yangtze River."

"It's outrageous!" Yuan Zongdi laughed and pretended to be angry: "When he came back from fighting Yunyang, he would tear all his broken boards into firewood!"

Yuan Zongdi sent people to Fang County to inform that Hao Yaoqi's army had arrived in Zhushan. The Ming army set off again after a little rest in Zhushan, and marched toward the city of Yunyang Prefecture by water and land. Even Deng Ming, who had never been here, would not get lost. Just walk along the Baishui River. The destination was right in front, and the Ming army gathered on both sides of the river.

Since this time, Deng Ming has never seen the generals of Kuidong consider crossing the marching route outside the river. The only land route that leaves the river is the small section between the Daning River Basin and the Baishui River Basin. Yes, the importance of the river to the Ming army in Kuidong, which lacks livestock is unquestionable. Only by using these rivers, the Ming army can transport supplies, armor and other supplies. Now all the small cannons of the Ming army are placed on bamboo rafts, and the wooden rafts can easily follow the army, but on the small section of land between the Daning River and the Baishui River, the power of the nine oxen and two tigers was used to pass through. In such a short distance, the Ming army was exhausted and almost exhausted. In areas where the river surface is wider and the water flow is not fast or slow, the Ming army can also ride bamboo rafts together and move forward happily, and there is no more physically efficient marching method.

However, Deng Ming always felt that the Ming army in Kuidong was too dependent on rivers. Over time, I was afraid that after leaving the river, I would not know how to fight. Young Ming army officers would not have the experience and ability to rely on land transportation to ensure logistics.

For the enemy, if the Ming army did not consider the offensive routes outside the river at all, or if the army could not get rid of its dependence on the river, it would be very easy for the Qing army to judge the possible offensive routes of the Ming army and would also be easy to carry out targeted defenses.

Recalling the discussions with Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun and others, Deng Ming found that the two people's dependence on river transportation was deeply rooted. For example, when going to Jiangnan, Liu Tichun also considered how to break through the heavy blockades of the Qing army along the Jiangling area, but he did not consider it at all. However, Deng Ming could not come up with any other good solutions. Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun and others knew better about the military situation of this era, and their military experience was definitely not comparable to Deng Ming. Since they had no way to get rid of the river, Deng Ming would definitely not have it.

In the 13th year of Yongli in the Ming Dynasty, on May 23, the 16th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Deng Ming followed Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun and He Jin to the city of Yunyang.

As Hao Yaoqi expected, the Qing army had completely retreated to the city to defend. There were more than 5,000 Qing troops around Yunyang Prefecture, but most of them were auxiliary soldiers with extremely suspicious combat effectiveness, morale and loyalty. Even more than 1,000 full-time combat soldiers with weapons and armor could not be compared with the soldiers who were transferred to the southwest.

Therefore, the guards and generals of Yunyang did not intend to fight with tens of thousands of Ming troops in the field, but ordered the abandonment of all peripheral strongholds, beacon towers, post stations, and all retreated into the defense of the city. Although giving up the post stations and beacon towers would be equivalent to automatically giving up the ability to contact the surrounding areas, the Yunyang side also had a good understanding of the operation mode of the Ming army. They knew that the main purpose of these Ming troops was to collect some materials and manpower in the city and around the city. Although the walls of Yunyang Palace were not very tall and strong, they were not easily shaken by the Ming army, which lacked heavy artillery and siege weapons.

Since they knew the combat goals of the Ming army, the Qing army's response strategy was obvious. They withdrew all the supplies from the surrounding stations, beacon towers and strongholds back to the city, and the residents in the suburbs and the materials from the residents also tried to move them into the city before the Ming army arrived. This would make the Ming army's harvest more limited. The more limited the Ming army's harvest, the shorter the time it could be in the city of Yunyang and the smaller the search range.

When the Ming army set up camp outside the city, the defenders in Yunyang City were not panicked at all, and stood on the top of the city and looked at the Ming army under the city coldly. The experienced veterans also encouraged the young soldiers and braved them to not be too nervous. The troops in Yunyang City were almost half of the Ming army outside the city, but the firearms were only a lot more than outside the city. If the Ming army was really unable to think about it and attacked the city, they would definitely be bleeding.

When Yunyang was attacked by the Ming army, the defenders sent emergency letters to Guangxiang and Xiangyang Prefecture, the upstream. Shortly after they sent the letter, Yunyang also received an emergency report from Guangxiang, saying that tens of thousands of Ming troops were approaching the city and asked Yunyang to draw some troops to reinforce.

"The scale of the thieves this time is really not small." After seeing Guangxiang's urgent report, the local officials and guards in Yunyang quickly guessed the situation by eight or nine: "It must be that the two bandits were launched together, and they went to Guangxiang and came all the way, so that we could not support each other."

In the past, if Yunyang was threatened by Hao Yaoqi, Guangxiang would send a reinforcement army. The reinforcement army would not enter Yunyang, and the number would not be too large, only about one thousand. However, the proportion of combat-capable soldiers was relatively large and would station and monitor the Ming army from afar. If the Ming army was too scattered to collect materials, the Qing army would also take the initiative to launch an attack and attack the single Ming army squads. If Guangxiang was in a hurry, Yunyang's reaction would be similar. This restraining action would force the Ming army to act cautiously and not dare to divide the troops around, so that the Ming army would gain less and stay in the Qing army controlled area would be shorter.

However, the Ming army is obviously fighting at the same time, and each of them has an absolute advantage over the Qing army, so it is impossible for Yunyang and Guangxiang to send reinforcements. The Qing army in Yunyang judged that the urgent reports from themselves and Guangxiang would soon be transmitted to Xiangyang, and some reinforcements might be sent there, but the number would not be huge, and the purpose was to monitor the Ming army rather than expel them.

"Even if Xiangyang sends reinforcements, they have to go to Guangxiang first, and they may not be able to come to our Yunyang. We don't have to think too much, focus on defending the city and wait for the Ming army to retreat." The Qing army in Yunyang came to the conclusion.
Chapter completed!