After Yan Yingyuan led his troops out of the city, his first target was Jishui County, north of Ji'an Fucheng.
Jiangxi is rich in mountains and rivers.
Basically all cities are built on the banks of rivers.
People usually travel more by the rivers and sail boats.
After all, sailing on the river is much more energy-saving than crossing mountains and ridges.
Even when Zhang Xianzhong attacked Ji'an Prefecture, the transportation of food, wages and materials for the army relied on river shipping.
However, Yan Yingyuan did not lead his men down the river by boat, but chose to take the mountain road on the left side of the Gan River.
After all, compared to the river, the mountain road is easier to hide, and it is much more convenient to attack and retreat.
Yan Yingyuan assigned twenty mountain soldiers who were good at walking on mountain roads as sentinels and ordered them to go out twenty miles to detect the enemy's situation and communicate with each other using bird flutes.
The sentry detective quickly discovered that there were six to seven hundred bandit troops stationed in Jishui City, and a large group of bandits had already passed Ji'an and headed north.
One thousand against six or seven hundred, it seemed that the Ming army had the upper hand, but Yan Yingyuan had no intention of attacking Jishui County because he knew how difficult it would be to attack the city.
If the bandit army insists on defense, not to mention a thousand soldiers, even 3,500 will not be able to easily capture Jishui County.
He only has a thousand men in his hands, but he can't afford to lose them.
Yan Yingyuan did not act rashly.
Instead, he stationed himself in a mountain col and sent spies widely to detect the movements of the rebel army and look for opportunities.
His men are all Jiangxi natives, and the investigation will not arouse the suspicion of the traitors.
Two days later, the opportunity finally came.
According to the spies' report, the bandit army will escort a batch of food supplies from the waterway to Nanchang.
Yan Yingyuan immediately decided to seize this batch of materials and annihilate the bandit army escorting them.
He led all his men quickly along the mountain road toward the lower reaches of the Gan River.
The Ganjiang River originates from the mountainous area of Ganzhou, flows from south to north through Ji'an, Linjiang, Nanchang, and flows into Poyang Lake.
The bandit fleet set out from Jishui County.
Although it traveled down the river, it was not traveling very fast.
As long as the army accelerated its march, it could go around the mountain road to the front and set up an ambush.
After leaving Jishui and heading north, the Ganjiang River flows very fast and there are mountains on both sides.
A fleet of five flat-bottomed river boats is walking in the river.
The boatmen carefully use long bamboo poles to prop up the bottom of the river and control the boats.
On the bow of the ship, Jia Hui, the captain of the Western Army, looked at the river nervously.
The rapid current in this section of the river made him feel dizzy.
Emperor Zhang Xianzhong of the Great Western Kingdom mobilized his troops to prepare for a decisive battle with the Ming army, which required a large amount of food and supplies.
Jishui County went through a round of looting by the Western Army.
Jia Hui personally led the army to the countryside and forcibly conquered several villages.
Collecting a thousand loads of rice and some cloth and sheep wine, he personally led 200 soldiers to escort them to Nanchang.
As for security issues, Jia Hui is not worried.
Almost all of Jiangxi has been occupied by the Western Army.
Officials appointed by Zhang Xianzhong have replaced the original government.
Now only a few cities in Jiangxi, such as Ji'an Fucheng, still fly the banner of the Ming Dynasty.
They are in constant panic.
There is no ability to resist the Daxi Army.
The river went out of Jishui for more than ten miles, and then turned three steep turns before it slowed down.
Everyone from Captain Jia Hui to the enlisted boatmen let out a sigh of relief.
"General, after passing through the dangerous bay of Jishui County, the river water is very gentle until Nanchang Prefecture."
The leader of the boatman said to Jia Hui.
Jia Hui nodded reservedly, opened his mouth and reprimanded: "You almost capsized the boat at a little bit of danger, and you still have the nerve to tell me that going to Nanchang wasted my time, but you are the one to watch."
The leader of the boatman turned around nonchalantly and secretly took a sip into the water.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
In terms of political ability, Zhang Xianzhong was actually not very good.
The Daxi Army he led did not have a clear program for governing the country.
When Li Zicheng established Dashun, he also proposed policies such as "not paying grain for three years" and "attacking the wealthy gentry to divide their fields", which attracted the support of countless poor farmers in the Central Plains, who regarded Li Zicheng as a savior.
If there were no Qing soldiers peeking outside the pass, Li Zicheng might really be able to secure his position.
In this regard, Zhang Xianzhong was far inferior to Li Zicheng, because Zhang Xianzhong did not put forward a clear program at all.
From Huguang to Sichuan, Zhang Xianzhong traveled all the way, robbed and kidnapped, and his military strength grew to hundreds of thousands, but he never received active support from the local gentry and people.
Even if Zhang Xianzhong founded the country in Chengdu, the people of Sichuan were not very supportive of him.
On the one hand, it was because Zhang Xianzhong was cruel and treated the gentry and officials in the occupied areas too harshly.
On the other hand, the Western Army had poor military discipline and was looting, and did not take any measures to benefit the people. .
Therefore, although the Western Army now occupies most of Jiangxi, it is difficult for the people of Jiangxi to support the Western Army.
Take Jishui County, where the leader of the boatmen is located, for example.
When Zhang Xianzhong led his army to attack Ji'an, Jishui County was raided once.
Most of the gentry and wealthy households were slaughtered and their property was robbed.
When Zhang Xianzhong returned to Nanchang and the imperial decree to collect supplies reached Jishui, the magistrate and garrison sent by the Western Army to Jishui County once again plundered the people, and this time the objects of the plunder were ordinary families.
No one can escape the one-ton supply of grain per household.
Now that there is an official lean period, there are still one or two months before the summer harvest.
Many people's families already don't have much surplus grain.
If they are forced to hand it over, the next life will be difficult.
The boss of the ship originally hoped to get some rewards for delivering supplies to the Western Army.
Now looking at the captain's appearance, he knew that there was no hope.
It was not known whether he would be able to come back intact after sending the fleet to Nanchang.
Damn it, the thieves had nowhere to go but they came to cause trouble in Jiangxi.
The government, which is so stubborn, usually flaunts its power all day long, but when it encounters the thieves, it catches them blindly.
The boat boss couldn't help cursing in his heart, but under the threat of the bandits' bright swords and guns, he had no choice but to continue pushing the boat forward.
As if he heard the inner voice of the boat boss, the boat had walked no more than two miles across the dangerous shoal when suddenly countless arrows were shot from the river bank, and then more than a dozen small boats were seen rushing towards the fleet like arrows.
"The bandits are coming to rob," the boss of the ship exclaimed, and jumped into the river decisively.
Under his leadership, other crew members also jumped into the river, leaving only the two hundred panicked Western troops escorting the ship.
"Protect the ships and prepare for battle."
Jia Hui, the captain of the Western Army, panicked and screamed repeatedly.
Two hundred of his men stood up with swords and guns and began to prepare to meet the enemy.
"Bang, bang, bang", "chirp, chirp, chirp", projectiles and arrows flew towards the fleet like locusts.
Jia Hui was shocked to see that the opponent actually had a large number of fire guns and strong bows.
"Captain, it's the Ming army, not the bandits."
One of his subordinates shouted in panic.
Jia Hui didn't need to tell him how to understand how the bandits could have such powerful long-range firepower.
"Get on the boat quickly and return to Jishui," Jia Hui ordered loudly to the boat boss in the river.
However, the usually docile boat boss and the boatmen ignored him at all, and plunged into the water one by one, and soon disappeared
.
: