Dominate the Country

Zhongxiang, the capital of Anlu Prefecture. Located in the north-central part of Hubei Province and the middle reaches of the Han River, it is connected to Jingshan in the east, Tianmen in the south, and Jingmen in the west. The Han River runs through its entire territory from north to south. It has mountains, hills, plains, rivers, ports, and lakes. This place was not originally called this name, but Changshou. But the birth of a man more than 200 years ago changed the place name here and also changed the history of China. He was Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao.

Emperor Jiajing was very cultured. He was born and made his fortune here, and named the county "Zhongxiang" with the meaning of "a place of good feng shui and auspiciousness", and promoted Anlu Prefecture to Chengtian Prefecture. When the Manchus entered the pass, they returned the name of the prefecture to Anlu, and the county name was still Zhongxiang.

There is no dangerous place in this place. The number of militias in Anlu Prefecture is also pitifully small. According to the "reports" of the gentry captured along the way, the total number of people is less than a thousand.

Chen Ming did not think that the militia of less than a thousand people in front could block the army's way. The fact is that even the prefect of Anlu Prefecture did not expect to be able to resist Chen Ming's army's southward advance. He just wanted to pretend that Chen Ming would continue to go south after breaking the interception, and not to give Zhongxiang a chance.

Outside Zhongxiang City, by the Han River, the militia of Anlu Prefecture built two artillery platforms and set up a camp with more effort. There were trenches and fences in front of the camp, as well as chevaux de frise and breastworks. There seemed to be some facilities in the camp. Chen Ming could not see the entire camp of the militia with a telescope.

But it didn't matter. The few small cannons of the Anlu Prefecture militia would have no effect on Chen Ming's army at all.

Of course, this was also because Chen Ming's expedition had just taken the first step. It was not surprising that Anlu Prefecture dared to come out and pretend in such a situation. If Chen Ming really crossed the country and penetrated South China, I believe that if he encountered such a situation again, a "small dish" like Anlu Mansion would not even dare to pretend.

Now Chen Ming needs to let people realize that pretending also has a price.

The two earthen open-air artillery forts in front of him will soon collapse and be destroyed in the absolute superiority of the Chen family army's artillery fire.

Under the vigilance of the musketeers and cavalry battalion cavalry, the artillery units in the team began to gather about 400 meters away from the Anlu militia camp to build artillery positions.

The cavalry wandering around, the musketeers holding muskets, and the armored battalion not far away, the leader of the Anlu militia Zhu Yan only sighed. Such a powerful bandit army is still so cautious. "Isn't the leader of the rebel army a young man of only 18 years old?" Famous in all directions, invincible, there is no trace of complacency and arrogance? ?

Zhu Yan had noticed Chen Ming as early as when Yongrui transferred troops to Henan. Although many of them were rumors, looking at the battles Chen Ming had experienced, he only gave people the impression of a steady veteran on the battlefield, without any youthful vigor. Only the battle in which the cavalry raided Chen Huizu was a little bit interesting, and the rest were all head-on confrontations, head-on confrontations again and again.

Zhu Yan sometimes couldn't help but wonder if Chen Ming was a cover put forward by the Fu Han General's Mansion, and someone else was actually commanding the army to fight?

The civil structure of the camp and the open-air artillery platform seemed very fragile under the bombardment of the artillery.

"Boom--"

"Boom--"

After several test firings, all the heavy artillery of the Fu Han Army's artillery position spewed out angry flames, and round shells hit the Anlu militia camp 400 meters away, smashing everything they brought. The arm-thick wood had no resistance to the shells, and even the round wood as thick as the thigh would break if hit by the shells.

This bombardment lasted for two quarters of an hour, and the entire artillery position was filled with gunpowder and water mist. When the artillery poured buckets of water on the gun barrels, Chen Ming waved his arm lightly, and a group of armored soldiers brandished swords and guns and rushed towards the rotten camp of the Anlu militia.

The moment the Fu Han army's artillery sounded, the people of the Anlu militia were in a state of panic and ran around everywhere. Where have these people seen such a scene? The cannons that they relied on for the Great Wall could not reach the other side at all, but the shells of the other side's cannons could cover the entire camp. When the earth wall exploded in front of them and the wood broke in front of them, these civilians were in chaos. None of the ten people lay down honestly on the ground, silently allowing the Fu Han army's artillery fire to bombard them, and allowing the deadly shells to wreak havoc around them.

The end of the panicked Anlu militia running around everywhere would only make their losses greater and greater.

When Zhu Yan got out of the trench and looked at the camp, he could not see many people alive in the camp that originally had 400 to 500 people. Instead, the corpses all over the ground made him confused...

"Brother, the bandits are coming..." A man in his thirties ran to Zhu Yan's side.

Zhu Yan calmed down, looked at the camp again, and said without hesitation: "Let's go!" If we don't go now, we won't be able to go.

How many people are still alive in the camp that originally had 400 to 500 people? No matter if they were really killed or retreated to a certain place like Zhu Yan just now, Zhu Yan didn't believe that the remaining soldiers in the camp could stop the attack from the opposite side. At least his own confidence was annihilated in the bombardment, and the rest of the militia could imagine it.

"Let's go, let's go quickly. Don't run to the city, go to the countryside, go to the countryside..." Zhu Yan shouted to the dozens of people who gathered around him. He couldn't be sure whether Chen Ming would attack Zhongxiang. After all, judging from the combat effectiveness of the Fu Han Army, Zhongxiang was too vulnerable. So he couldn't go back to Zhongxiang City now!

Chen Ming certainly would not pay attention to Zhu Yan and his party who had fled. The Jiabing Battalion took down the camp almost without bloodshed, and then the army attacked Zhongxiang City without any stop.

That afternoon, the news that Chen Ming led his army to break Zhongxiang City spread. At this time, Chen Ming did not receive the news, and did not know that Xue Shiyan, the general of Yichang Town, had just entered Jingmen with his troops. Otherwise, it is hard to say whether Chen Ming would suddenly change the direction of the army and march to Jingmen.

Zhongxiang City was captured on November 9, and Qianjiang was captured on the 12th. After Chen Ming crossed the Han River in Xinglong Town and Zhangjigang and took Qianjiang County without any effort, the army's strategy for Jingzhou officially began.

These days, the whole of Hubei was shaken. Chen Ming was obviously going to go along the Han River to the Yangtze River, and Hubei would be in chaos. Some places along the Han River and the Yangtze River had officials resigned. They didn't want to die, but there were no troops around, so they left early to at least save their lives.

Tianmen and Mianyangzhou, not far from Qianjiang, secretly sent people to promise a large amount of money and food, just to ask Chen Ming to show mercy and let them go.

Chen Ming couldn't help but think of Li Jiannan. This guy ran away from Ruzhou to Luoyang, and I don't know how he is doing, or if he has left the chaotic Henan Prefecture...