***
In fact, Cui Feng's army was only a few dozen miles away from Ma Liuliang's front line at the beginning. Later, Ma Liuliang advanced faster and faster, and the distance between the two sides gradually widened.
Because he was worried about the unstable situation in Guizhou, Cui Feng only brought 6,000 troops into Yunnan this time, and every three soldiers were equipped with one Yunnan horse.
The Yunnan horses are small in stature but have good endurance and are much better at climbing mountains and crossing ridges than northern horses. The key is that they are easy to take care of, eating grass and leaves, and do not need to be fed with concentrated feed such as soybeans.
With these Yunnan horses carrying supplies, Cui Feng's marching speed was not slow. Just one day after Ma Liuliang went south, Cui Feng's army also arrived in Qujing, Yunnan.
At this time, Sha Dingzhou in Kunming had just recalled the 1,000 troops of his general Li Rifang. Cui Feng did not bother to investigate Ma Liuliang for changing the plan and heading south without authorization. He led 6,000 troops westward to Kunming.
It is about 300 miles from Qujing to Kunming. There are three garrisons along the way: Benmi, Chongming and Yanglin. The characteristic of the garrison system of the Ming Dynasty was that soldiers were hidden among the people, and the families of the soldiers were regarded as military households and also settled in the garrisons together.
In other words, most of the people in these garrisons were Han Chinese. Although Sha Dingzhou controlled these garrisons before, the total number of troops under the chieftains of Ami and Wangnong was less than 20,000, mainly used to hunt down Mu Tianbo and garrison Kunming City. The troops that these garrisons could deploy were limited, and most of them were the original Ming army.
The Qin army's spies had already infiltrated these garrisons and instigated the officers and soldiers to rebel. When Cui Feng's army arrived, the Han army in Benmi Garrison immediately defected, and Cui Feng also took over Benmi Garrison without any effort.
Seeing this, Cui Feng found Chen Ruizheng, the former commander of Guizhou, and said to him: "While Sha Dingzhou's main force is still in Chuxiong, I order you to lead a thousand troops as the vanguard, and march quickly with light equipment. If you can attack the two guards of Chongming and Yanglin along the way, you can attack them, and if you can't, you can bypass them. In short, you must advance to the city of Kunming as quickly as possible and catch Sha Dingzhou off guard. I will also advance at full speed to support you."
Chen Ruizheng responded to the order and set off overnight with a thousand vanguards.
Cui Feng's arrangement involved a great deal of risk, but this risk was taken on the basis of Ye Bushu's accurate intelligence.
The faster they advance at this time, the more they will disrupt Sha Dingzhou's deployment. If they fight in the conventional way, once Sha Dingzhou transfers his main force back from Chuxiong on the western front, the situation will be unfavorable to the Qin army.
***
After Ma Liuliang captured Luliangwei in the south, he continued to march forward to Lunanzhou in the south. Most of the people in this area were Han people. Sha Dingzhou and Wan Shi were notorious for their adultery. Most of the Han people were dissatisfied with the rebellion they launched. Wherever Ma Liuliang went, most of the people along the way took the initiative to open the door to welcome him and show him the way. Moreover, Ma Liuliang's goal was very clear: he was going to rob silver, not to capture as many cities as possible.
Therefore, he picked the weak ones along the way, and rushed to the towns or villages that were easy to attack. He seized some food and supplies, and when he arrived at Lunanzhou City, hundreds of defenders were waiting on the city walls. Ma Liuliang saw this and estimated that it would be difficult to capture it quickly, so he immediately bypassed the city and continued to attack southward.
Ma Kuang, the defender of Lunan Prefecture, was dumbfounded. You know, Kunming is to the northwest of Luzhou City. If you go south, you will be farther and farther away from Kunming. Ma Kuang even suspected that this group of enemy troops were not familiar with the road and went in the wrong direction.
The further south they went, the more worried Mr. Tang became. He said to Ma Liuliang, "General Ma, this won't work. We have no escape route. If we run into any obstacles along the way, we'll be easily surrounded."
Ma Liuliang said disapprovingly: "Don't be afraid, sour scholar. As long as we are faster, Sha Dingzhou will not have time to encircle us. Besides, is it that easy for him to encircle me? If he doesn't mobilize 30,000 or 20,000 people to encircle me, I will beat him to a pulp first. Sour scholar, think about the time when I was in southern Jiangxi with Governor Ma... ... ... Er, no, think about the time when Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, these bandits, were roaming around, and the Ming army mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops but couldn't encircle them. It can be seen that it is not that easy to encircle a group of people. The King of Qin mobilized an army of 200,000 and couldn't encircle Ajige. Have you forgotten?"
Tang Yue said: "General Ma only knows one thing, not the other. The Ming court besieged the Dashun Army, and the Qin King besieged Ajige, both of which were in the plains of the Central Plains. We are in Yunnan..."
"Sour scholar, you have been taking the wrong medicine these days, haven't you? You are always looking for trouble, right? It's true that Yunnan is not as good as the Central Plains, but Sha Dingzhou is not as good as the King of Qin... Okay, sour scholar, if you compare Sha Dingzhou with the King of Qin, I will definitely report you this time."
Tang Yue almost choked to death. It was obviously you who compared him to the King of Qin. What does it have to do with me
Wu Xiaoliu at the side couldn't help but interjected, "Master, don't worry. Sha Dingzhou's main force is in Chuxiong. Even if he calls back all the main forces, there are only 10,000 or 20,000 of them. We may not be afraid of him if all of them come. Besides, don't we still have Marshal Cui? Marshal Cui is probably heading to Kunming now. It's good enough that Sha Dingzhou can withstand Marshal Cui's fierce attack. Can he call back the main forces to trouble us?"
Ma Liu smiled and praised: "Not bad, not bad, Xiao Liuzi finally learned to speak human language today."
Tang Yue found that what Wu Xiaoliu said made sense. Besides, the decision on the army's actions was in the hands of Ma Liuliang, and the most he could do was to give him a reminder.
"My men, work harder and get to Amizhou. The mountains of gold and silver treasures will be ours." Ma Liuliang shouted arrogantly to encourage the soldiers around him.
Money makes the world go round. Thinking of the countless glittering gold, everyone had endless energy and they climbed mountains and crossed rivers at a lightning speed.
Although the Qin army had a system of returning captured spoils to the public, no one could completely prevent soldiers from keeping some of the spoils for themselves during war.
As long as the soldiers did not go too far, Tang Yue would sometimes turn a blind eye, because giving the soldiers some money and property appropriately could help them maintain their strong fighting spirit and enterprising spirit.
However, the degree must be grasped well. If soldiers are allowed to gain too much at one time, they will become less motivated to make progress and even become afraid of death.
Ma Liuliang and his three thousand men fled southward at full speed. The news soon spread back to Kunming. Sha Dingzhou and Wan were shocked when they heard it.
Wan exclaimed on the spot: "Oh no, the enemy is heading for Amizhou, quickly dispatch troops back..."
Her brother-in-law Tang Jiabin asked anxiously, "Madam, there are another 20,000 enemy troops coming from Qujing. If we transfer more troops back to Amizhou, what will happen to Kunming?"
When Cui Feng marched, he was bluffing and claimed to have an army of 50,000. After analysis, Sha Dingzhou and others thought that this number was exaggerated. After some evaluation, they believed that there were only probably 20,000 troops. That's why Tang Jiabin made this statement.
Yu Xipeng said: "The enemy troops in the east did not come to Kunming, and did not even attack the prefectures along the way. This approach of leaving no way out is really unexpected. General, the most urgent task is to send someone to send this news back to Ami Prefecture as soon as possible to prevent Ami Prefecture from being taken advantage of by the enemy."
Although Sha Dingzhou was ambitious, he was not very smart. He was completely confused at this time. He was in a state of confusion and just did whatever Yu Xipeng and the others said. He sent a messenger back to Amizhou and asked, "Mr. Yu, there are only 2,000 troops in Amizhou and less than 10,000 in Kunming. Now there are 20,000 enemy troops in Qujing heading towards Kunming. What should we do?"
Wan said decisively at this time: "Don't think about it, retreat back to Amizhou."
"How can we do this?" Sha Dingzhou objected immediately. He hadn't even gotten comfortable in the position of the general government yet. He had just conquered most of Yunnan and hadn't had time to enjoy the benefits. His main force hadn't even fought a single battle with the enemy. Asking him to retreat back to Ami Prefecture would be tantamount to asking him to give up the territory he had just gained. How could he be willing to do that
Wan scolded without giving any face: "Don't be stupid. There is Mu Tianbo in the west and 20,000 to 30,000 Qin troops in the east. We are being attacked from both sides. Do you think the gentry in Kunming are really following you? I tell you, once the enemy army arrives, they will definitely rebel. It's not too late to leave now. If we leave later, if Ami Prefecture is conquered by the enemy first, we will be really finished."
Wan's words were like a big stick, which made Sha Dingzhou tremble with fear. Yes, if Amizhou was conquered by the enemy, not only would the treasures that he had transported back a few days ago fall into the hands of the enemy, but his soldiers would probably no longer have the heart to fight because they were worried about their families. Then everything would be really over.
Rao Xizhi also advised: "General, as the saying goes, if you keep the green mountains, you will not be afraid of running out of firewood. The enemy is strong. Let's retreat to Amizhou and hold on, slowly wearing down the enemy. This is the safest way."
"Okay, then we'll return to Amizhou."
Sha Dingzhou was unwilling to give in. When he captured Kunming, in order to stabilize the people's hearts, most of the gentry and wealthy families did not rob. During this period, Sha Dingzhou continued to visit them in an attempt to win their support.
Seeing that Kunming could no longer be defended, Sha Dingzhou decided to take drastic measures and suddenly ordered his troops to loot the gentry and wealthy families around Kunming.
As soon as this order was issued, Kunming city and the surrounding counties and prefectures were in hell. Sha Dingzhou's troops rushed into the homes of wealthy gentry. These chieftains were still wild and cruel. They killed anyone they saw and robbed anything they saw. For a while, screams and cries filled the entire city.
Many people were forced to rise up in resistance, but due to lack of preparation, the hasty resistance was suppressed more cruelly by Sha Dingzhou. The four gates of Kunming City were tightly closed, and people could not escape. There were flames and blood everywhere. Even the spies who worked all night could not send out the news for a while...
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ps: I'm sick and feel very weak, not only physically but also mentally. As a bachelor, I usually feel quite comfortable, but once I get sick, I find that there's no one to bring medicine or water... So desolate!
This chapter is the last draft, I'll post it first, and ask friends for monthly votes. There are still ten days left. Others have strong stamina, and it's not surprising to get a hundred votes a day. I hope my brothers will support me a lot, don't let this little hope be shattered, please give me monthly votes!
.(To be continued..)
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