Xiangyang City was captured like this. Not to mention that Zhang Xianzhong was stunned when he received the news, even Sun Chuanting, who had been by Zhu Qidiao, felt a little incredible.

Zhang Xianzhong originally thought that this mighty city, known as Xiangyang, which has been known as the iron-clad Xiangyang since ancient times, could last for at least a few months. However, he never thought that Xiangyang City was taken down by the Crazy King of Nanyang in just a few days.

Is this Ma Yuanli crazy, or is it that Nanyang Crazy King too crazy?

The important town of Xiangyang was lost, Chengtian Prefecture, De'an Prefecture, Jingzhou Prefecture and other places were exposed to the enemy's troops. What should I do?

Zhang Xianzhong had no choice but to give up the plan to capture southern Jiangxi and wait for an opportunity to march into Guangdong, Guangxi or Fujian, and led more than 100,000 main army to Wuchang Prefecture.

The speed of the Nanyang Crazy King's siege is too terrible. If this guy ignored it, rushed all the way and rushed towards Wuchang Mansion, he would probably be able to reach Wuchang Mansion in about half a month, and it would take more than ten days for him to lead his army back to Wuchang Mansion.

At this time, he did not dare to plan for Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. It would be serious to first protect the capital of the Great Western Dynasty.

Will the red utensils go straight to Wuchang Mansion?

This is not urgent. Although he was able to transport the army by water and took down Wuchang Mansion before Zhang Xianzhong's main force rushed back, he did not do so.

Because there are certain risks in doing so.

You should know that Wuchang Prefecture is seven or eight hundred miles away from Xiangyang. He took the Wuchang Prefecture alone and took the pressure on the transportation of food, supplies and soldiers. Even if the wheels are fast, they can transport up to 20,000 people at a time. After they take down Wuchang Prefecture, they will face more than 100,000 main army of Zhang Xianzhong!

At that time, he will definitely face many difficult choices.

For example, what should we do if we transport troops first, or weapons and ammunition first, as well as food and supplies, war horses, chariots, etc.?

For example, should we strive to protect Xiangyang or Wuchang? What if Zhang Xianzhong ignored Wuchang and directly took a detour to attack Xiangyang or even Bashu?

This bandit can do anything, and there is no need for him to take such unknown risks.

To unify the world, you can't be impatient, you can't fantasize about eating a fat man in one bite, or fantasize about taking down a huge Ming Dynasty in a few months or even dozens of days. That's simply impossible.

For such a big thing, being safe is the top priority.

You know, his enemies are not vulnerable waste. They are all veterans on the battlefield with at least hundreds of thousands of troops. If he is a random person and takes risks and radical behavior, he may not be eaten by these old foxes!

Therefore, after taking Xiangyang, he did not rush to advance. It took time to count casualties, clean the battlefield, resettle prisoners, arrange defense, etc., and the soldiers also needed rest. When he had almost done these things, three days had passed.

On this day, he finally took some time to come to the legendary Xiang Wang Mansion.

After the Yongle Dynasty, it was almost impossible for these vassal kings to see the mansions of other vassal kings. Except for looking at the mansion from Fu, this was the first time he had personally entered the mansions of other vassal kings.

What do you say about the Xiang Prince’s Mansion?

Alas, Zhang Xianzhong, a bastard, knew how to destroy a good vassal palace. Why did he destroy it?

Looking at the devastated Xiangwang Mansion, Zhuqizhu was speechless. Zhang Xianzhong pushed down almost all the palaces, but the place where the food was stored was not destroyed much.

There is no need to think about the gold, silver and treasures in the Xiangwang Mansion. They have been emptied by Zhang Xianzhong, and only food is only. He left about 300,000 stones, which is enough for the 50,000 army to eat for half a year.

However, for the 200,000 army, this is just over a month of food rations.

This gain can only be said to be better than nothing. The most important thing is Xiangyang City itself, this majestic city, which is enough to satisfy countless gold and silver.

He took a little walk around the "relics" of the Xiangwang Mansion, then returned to the commander's tent outside the city, summoned a group of generals, and began to discuss the next route of march.

Where to call next?

Xiangyang is located at the southernmost end of the Nanyang Basin, with almost mountains on the east, south and west. There are only two roads to go from Xiangyang to other places in Huguang.

One is to take the land route from Zaoyang to Suizhou, take De'an Prefecture, and head straight to Wuchang Prefecture.

This road is the closest to Wuchang Prefecture, but the road from Zaoyang to Suizhou and even De'an Prefecture City is full of low mountains, which is extremely unfavorable for the army to advance. If you take this road, it will take at least twenty days to reach Wuchang Prefecture.

The other is to take a waterway, go south along the Han River, pass Yicheng, take down Chengtian Prefecture, and then continue to go south to Jingzhou Prefecture or east to Wuchang Prefecture.

This road is easier to walk on, because there is a long basin on both sides of the Han River between Xiangyang Prefecture and Chengtian Prefecture, and there is no problem with the passage of the army. Moreover, when Chengtian Prefecture is the Jianghan Plain, the army is even more unobstructed when advancing. More importantly, with the Han River waterway, whether it is food, supplies, or weapons and equipment, it is easy to transport, and there is no need to worry at all.

Needless to think, it is definitely more beneficial to go south along the Han River. As for the Zaoyang and Suizhou lines, their army is difficult to move forward, and Zhang Xianzhong's army is even more difficult to move forward. There is basically no need to worry, unless Zhang Xianzhong burns his boats and leaves the capital Wuchang and continues to be bandits.

Of course, this has to be guarded against.

Finally, Zhu Qizhi decided to transfer Anbei Army and 20,000 Southwest Army to guard Zaoyang, leaving Annan Army and 20,000 Southwest Army to guard Xiangyang, and leaving 10,000 Southwest Army to guard Gucheng. In this way, their rear would be basically safe.

You should know that the Annan Army and the Anbei Army are not as unstoppable as the bandits under Zhang Xianzhong. They all have muskets and cannons and thunder. In field battles, due to limited chariots, they may not be able to use one to ten. If they defend the city, there is no problem at all. If they include 50,000 to assist the defense of the Southwest Army, I am afraid that even if Zhang Xianzhong transfers all his subordinates to come, he will not be able to take down Xiangyang Prefecture.

After no worries, Zhu Qituo ordered the Imperial Army, Qi Family Army, and Imperial Guards to be the vanguards and head straight to Yiyang. He personally led the Pingdong Army, the Pingxi Army, the Pingnan Army, and the Pingbei Army as the Central Army. Then he followed, and Sun Chuanting led the Southwest Army to prepare to accept the city defense.

Yiyang is located right between Xiangyang City and Chengtian Prefecture City Zhongxiang, and it also ties the middle reaches of the Han River waterway, which is a relatively important pass.

However, Zhang Xianzhong believed that the defense of Xiangyang was already indestructible enough, and the defense of Zhongxiang City in Chengtian Prefecture City was not bad. Yiyang in the middle was a useless rib, and it didn't matter whether he was defending or not. Therefore, he stationed a total of 5,000 defenders in Yiyang. Moreover, these defenders were not mainly used to defend the city, but to "collect food and grass".

To put it bluntly, these people are the main bandits, and they rob them everywhere, just for the name of "collecting food and grass" for the army.

Such an ordinary bandit, facing the well-equipped Imperial Guards, the Qi family army and the Imperial Guards had no choice but to fight.

The Yiyang guard general was also very straightforward, so he led his five men to surrender!

He also offered more than 100,000 stones of food and grass, asking the government army to smuggle him and not slaughter him!

Yiyang City was taken down like this, and it also won more than 100,000 stones of food and grass for use. I never thought of this little bit of red utensil.

As for these 5,000 surrendered men, it is not impossible to be included, but they have to be strictly screened. This is all we have to talk about when he defeats Zhang Xianzhong. Including the nearly 40,000 prisoners in Xiangyang City, he has not had time to screen for the inclusion.
Chapter completed!