*****
At a time when the world is at war, Ganzhou is like a paradise. The people do not have to worry about being affected by the war. The streets are crowded with people and all businesses are thriving.
Merchant caravans from Fujian and Guangdong drove southern ponies in droves and in an endless stream.
Most of those who came to Ganzhou to escape the war were from wealthy families, because the ordinary people who had no food or clothing were mostly resettled in Jianghan and Huguang.
Seeing that Ganzhou had become a transit point for goods connecting China and the world, these wealthy families chose to buy land and property in Ganzhou. As the properties in the city were no longer in demand, many people went to the wharf by the Gan River outside the city to buy land, and a small town had emerged near the wharf.
In sharp contrast to the bustling streets is the quiet garden of Ganzhou Prefecture’s back office. On a hot afternoon, willow trees sway by the pond, and the wind gently blows over the rockery pavilions.
The lotus flowers in the pond are just beginning to bloom, their beauty blossoming. A dragonfly touches the water surface, then flies to rest on the lotus, creating a leisurely scene.
Even the little maid in the mansion was sitting in the cool corridor, leaning against the pillar and dozing off.
In the beautiful room whose back window faced the pond, the air was filled with the aroma of incense. Yang Zhi was wearing a thin short-sleeved silk shirt, revealing half of her snow-white arms. She looked a little fuller than before, and more round and smooth.
She held a palm-leaf fan in her hand and gently fanned the child who was sleeping soundly on the couch. The little guy was sucking a finger while sleeping, and his little face was rosy and adorable.
"Miss, Miss, Tian Yimu said that your brother-in-law won a great victory, Miss..." Momo came in trotting with her double buns tied up and her skirt lifted up.
"Shh!" Yang Zhi hurriedly asked her to be quiet, "Yong'er just fell asleep, please keep your voice down."
Momo stuck out her tongue, tiptoed to the small couch, looked at the little guy on the couch, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he was not woken up.
Yang Zhi pulled her to the window and whispered, "Hurry up and tell me, hurry up and tell me." As she urged her, she turned her head from time to time to look at the little person on the couch, fearing that the little guy would be restless in his sleep and roll off the couch.
"Miss, Tian Yimu said that my uncle killed tens of thousands of Tartars in Jingmen, and thousands more in Hanyang. He scared the Tartars away, and they ran away with their tails straight..."
"Is this also what Tian Yimu said?"
"Hehe, that's definitely what I imagined. I heard that the Tartars all have a rat's tail growing on their heads."
"You, didn't Tian Yimu say anything else?"
Momo shook her head, and the joy on Yang Zhi's face disappeared immediately: "You didn't even tell me if Qin Lang is okay?"
Momo couldn't bear it, and quickly replied: "Of course I did. Tian Yimu said that my son-in-law is fine and in good health. He eats several bowls of rice in one meal..."
"Don't comfort me, little girl. Qin Lang doesn't even have a few bowls of rice in one meal. Sigh!" Thinking that Qin Mu hadn't sent her a private message for a long time, Yang Zhi felt disappointed and worried about his safety.
"Miss, don't be sad. There is a war going on ahead. My son-in-law probably can't spare the time..."
"Where's Ruoruo? Why isn't she with you?"
"Go and tell the master and mistress the news of the great victory."
As they were talking, they saw Chen and Ruoruo coming around the corridor, and Yang Zhi hurried out to greet them.
Chen entered the room and looked at her sleeping grandson, then told Mo Mo Ruoruo to watch over her. She pulled her daughter outside the room under the eaves and asked, "Daughter, didn't he send you a letter?"
Yang Zhi lowered her head and shook it slightly.
Chen sighed and said, "Logically speaking, the war has been won, Wuchang is safe, he should have sent someone to take you and your daughter to Wuchang. Now Yong'er is almost one year old, and he hasn't even seen his father. Even if he doesn't miss you, he should miss the child. Yong'er is so old and still hasn't been named. No matter how busy he is, don't he have the time to name his own child?"
"Mom, please stop talking. Qin Lang is not that kind of person. You..."
"Alas, you silly girl, what can we do if we continue like this? I have to go talk to Tian Yimu and ask him to send someone to send you and your mother to Wuchang."
"Mom, please don't be like this. Your daughter...will write a letter to ask him first." Yang Zhi hesitated for a moment and then said, "Is Dad feeling better?"
Yang Tinglin had made a bet with Qin Mu, but after learning that Beijing had fallen and Chongzhen had been hanged, he wore mourning clothes and cried. His depression triggered his old injuries and he was ill for more than half a year. Emperor Hongguang did issue an edict to summon him to be the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, but Yang Tinglin was unable to take up the post due to his illness, and naturally he could not fulfill the bet he had made with Qin Mu.
Chen and Yang Zhi were both worried that Qin Mu would think that Yang Tinglin was faking illness, which would make the rift between the two sides even more difficult to reconcile. Qin Mu hadn't even sent a letter to them now, and he hadn't even mentioned taking his son to see him when he was almost one year old. This made Chen and her daughter even more worried that Qin Mu was dissatisfied and that was why he did this.
"Mother is a woman, I have advised her in every possible way, but now... ah..."
"Mom, don't worry. I'll write to him and ask him. If he agrees, I'll take Yong'er to Wuchang. As for daddy's matter, I think I'd better discuss it with Mr. Sima. I think it will be fine if Mr. Sima comes forward to mediate."
"Well, that's all we can do."
*****************
Hearing that the Qing general Lekedehun had broken through Wuyang Pass and that it took only two days and one night to reach the target from a distance of 300 miles, Qin Mu urgently dispatched Li Jiu's 3,000 cavalry to meet the enemy. At the same time, he ordered Liu Fangliang to attack Ajige.
Li Jiu was defeated and retreated, but Lekedehun suddenly came to the west bank of Ju River to support Ajige.
As for Hongniang who was chasing from behind, the two or three hundred men and horses did not play any role in restraining her.
After a small setback, Liu Fangliang on the east bank did not dare to press Ajige anymore.
Qin Mu was furious after receiving the report. It was understandable that Li Jiu had only 3,000 men against 4,000 men and was defeated by Lekedehun's newly victorious army.
Not only did Liu Fangliang have the advantage in military strength, but Ajige had been defeated many times, and was short of food and weapons, and his morale was low. Facing such a downtrodden dog, Liu Fangliang hesitated to move forward after a small setback. How could Qin Mu not be angry
He immediately asked Su Jin to select 1,500 cavalrymen and go to Macheng to remove Liu Fangliang. Unable to bear it any longer, he scolded Liu Fangliang as soon as they met, and then personally commanded 20,000 Dashun troops to pursue Ajige, and let Su Jin's troops serve as the supervisory team. Anyone who hesitated would be executed immediately.
After chasing him at all costs, they finally caught up with Ajige when he was crossing the river. They hacked and killed more than 2,000 Tartars who had not yet crossed the river, killing more than 900 of them and taking more than 1,200 prisoners.
But this was far from Qin Mu's goal of completely annihilating Ajige. When Ajige successfully joined forces with Lekedehun, he still had at least 14,000 people.
On the other hand, Guo Yunlong and Hu Shouliang refused to surrender because they learned that Feng Peng was killed by Liu Fangliang, and led 20,000 Guanning troops to retreat northward to the middle foothills of the Dabie Mountains.
This undoubtedly caused great trouble to Qin Mu.
This time, Qin Mu mobilized an army of 200,000 and spent countless efforts. Even because too many troops were withdrawn from the eastern front, Cui Feng had to abandon the city of Chizhou, all in order to completely annihilate Ajige's army.
Unexpectedly, it turned out like this in the end, and Liu Fangliang should bear the main responsibility for all this. It was because of his hesitation that Ajige had the opportunity to cross the river. He ignored the dissuasion of Zhao Han, the deputy minister, and killed Feng Peng to vent his anger, resulting in the 20,000 Guanning troops refusing to surrender even to their death.
Qin Mu wanted to execute him, but Zhao Han and Su Jin tried to dissuade him. Considering that the 60,000 to 70,000 Dashun troops had just joined and had not yet had time to reorganize, and that Li Guo's tens of thousands of troops had not yet been defeated, Qin Mu had to temporarily suppress his killing intent.
After Ajige met up with Lekedehun, he did not dare to stay any longer and quickly retreated to Wuyang Pass.
Qin Mu then dispatched his troops to the north to attack Wuyang Pass, determined to take control of this important pass and fill this serious gap.
On the other hand, he began to forcibly reorganize the 60,000 to 70,000-strong army on the grounds that Liu Fangliang was afraid of fighting. Damn it, those who don't want to can leave, otherwise people like Liu Fangliang will only cause trouble and there is no point in keeping them.
Qin Mu acted decisively and swiftly, and former major generals of the Dashun Army, such as Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongde, She Yaoqi and Liu Tiren, were kept silent and dared not say a word about the reorganization.
Qin Mu, with a force of 20,000, almost wiped out Ajige's entire army at Fanshanggang, which in itself was a strong deterrent to them.
What's more, the families of the Dashun Army were all sent to Huguang, so they couldn't disobey even if they wanted to. Few soldiers were willing to follow you anymore.
At the same time, Qin Mu also began to reflect on himself. This battle plan was hastily formulated by him alone, and it turned out that there were many loopholes and many things were not considered carefully.
First of all, it was a serious mistake not to take into account the Dashun Army’s cowardice.
Another thing is that they failed to predict the changes at Wuyang Pass, which was hundreds of miles away, and failed to take precautions in advance, which allowed Lekedehun to march straight in and rescue Ajige.
A wise man knows that even if he thinks about things, he will make mistakes. It seems that we should gather the wisdom of all parties in the future.
The only thing to be thankful for was that the Guanning Army was finally separated and forced to the middle foothills of the Dabie Mountains. This was undoubtedly the heaviest blow to Ajige.
Next, Qin Mu's first task was to recruit the 20,000 Guanning troops. It was not easy to truly annex these 20,000 troops, because unlike the Dashun troops, they did not have families to be used as hostages.
On the contrary, their families were in the hands of the Tartars, and even their commander Wu Sangui was in the hands of the Tartars, which undoubtedly led to many uncertainties.
Therefore, even if I can temporarily force the 20,000 Guanning troops to land, how to ensure their loyalty and truly be of use to me will be a huge headache.
The Guanning Army was the strongest army of the Ming Dynasty, and could barely fight the Tartars. Moreover, most of them were cavalry. For Qin Mu, who lacked cavalry, whether he could recruit these 20,000 Guanning Army would affect the future development of the war.
The mountainous terrain in the south is not conducive to cavalry combat, and the importance of cavalry is not highlighted.
But in the plains of the Central Plains and northern Zhili, cavalry is the king. From now on, when we go north to fight, it will not be like in the south.
It is necessary to have a relatively strong cavalry for mobile breakthroughs, raids and infiltrations, so as not to be passive everywhere and be led by the nose everywhere.
*************************************(To be continued...)
...