Zhang Xianzhong is laying siege to Anqing?
Hearing this news, everyone was stunned.
Anqing is bordered by Huguang to the west and Southern Zhili to the east, and it serves as a gateway to central Anhui to the north. Most importantly, Nanjing lies only six hundred li downstream; throughout the Great Ming Dynasty, Anqing has always been the gateway to Nanjing.
How did Zhang Xianzhong suddenly reach Anqing?
Wasn’t he in the south of Huguang?
One must realize that although the counties of Hukou, Pengze, and Wangjiang did not have large garrisons, if they had simply chosen to defend, they could have held off the enemy for several days behind their fortified walls. Once the news that the three counties were under siege reached Jiujiang upstream and Tongling downstream, reinforcements should have arrived immediately. It was impossible for those three counties to have fallen so quickly.
Amidst the confused gazes of the officers, Lü Daqi sighed once more. "Gentlemen, Hukou, Pengze, and Wangjiang surrendered without a fight, which is how the Xian Rebel reached the gates of Anqing."
"There are fewer than ten thousand men defending Anqing. If we cannot reinforce them in time, the fall of the city is only a matter of time."
The generals fell silent. It was known that Zhang Xianzhong’s force had previously numbered over one hundred thousand, perhaps even two hundred thousand. Although he had suffered consecutive defeats at the hands of Qin Liangyu and Yuan Jixian, a camel that is dying is…
Chapter 444