August 28, the sixth year of Tiansheng.
Lin Chong led a large force southward by boat along the Grand Canal and arrived at Yangzhou, preparing to cross the river.
It was two days later than the original plan made at the beginning of the month, because in addition to the 50,000 troops, Jia Hui also asked Lin Chong to bring 60 large cannons, a large amount of gunpowder raw materials and craftsmen newly built by Linzi Military War Bureau and Luoyang Military War Bureau. Bring one piece over.
These craftsmen will do the final work of preparing gunpowder at the Zijinwei camp in Jinling.
Eighteen days after the reinforcements began on the fourth day of August, basically no reinforcements from the White Lotus Sect came.
This was a good thing. It consumed a lot of the White Lotus Sect's troops, and basically only enough troops were left to defend the city.
Du Yi, the embroidered clothes spy who captured Hangzhou with the second main force of the White Lotus Sect, also restored stable communication with the Jinling headquarters again.
Nowadays, the White Lotus Sect, with Hangzhou as its base, is presided over by the leader's two sons and daughters, the White Lotus Saint and the Young Master.
According to Du Yi's information, apart from being good-looking, the two of them probably have only average qualifications.
Not that good, not that bad, just like their father.
This mediocre qualification also means that their combined prestige is not enough to overwhelm the old ministers.
This is indeed good news. Without the constraints of the leader, the ambitions of these veterans have reached an all-time high, and the White Lotus Sect has fallen into an actual state of division.
Coupled with the fanning of the flames by the eloquent factory security spies, I believe they will be broken even more thoroughly.
"General, President Lin Qian's first troop transport ship has entered the port."
The soldiers found Jia Hui who was polishing his weapon.
"Well, we're finally here. Is the camp ready?"
Picking up a towel and wiping his hands, Jia Hui looked back at the soldiers.
"Everything is ready."
"Very good. Send them some good food and drink first, let them rest, and wait until they all cross the river. Let's go tonight. I'll go there tonight."
"Yes!" The soldier quickly ran towards the dock.
"Hey" Jia Hui chuckled and grinded even harder.
It's better to maintain your own weapons and rest assured. At least if there are any problems during maintenance, you can know immediately, instead of suddenly breaking the weapon while you are using it.
. . . . . .
Lin Chong and his more than a thousand men were the last to board the ship. Before boarding the ship, he had been watching the crossing of the 50,000-strong army, and even had a meal with Lin Ruhai during the period.
It was not until all 50,000 troops boarded the ship that they boarded a warship of the inland river navy and crossed the river to the large-scale Xijin Ferry that had been built.
Guan Sheng, who had been waiting here for a while, came up to him enthusiastically, and after a few words of greeting, he took him to Jia Hui's festival hall.
Today, Guan Sheng is resting, and Yang Zhi is out on inspection.
"Hahaha, Lao Lin, you are finally back!"
In the temporary festival hall of Xijin Ferry, Jia Hui laughed and hugged Lin Chong, who had been grinning all the time, and slapped him hard on the back several times.
"Ahem, cough, general!" Lin Chong's back was slapped by Jia Hui, and he couldn't help but cough a few times before breaking away from Jia Hui's bear hug.
"Oh, this is false. You have had a good time in Huai'an during this time."
"General, there are no final generals." Lin Chong retorted weakly.
"Tsk, without further ado, come on, sit down quickly, and tell me how good these laborers are?"
After Jia Hui sat back down in the hall, he signaled to Lin Chong that he could sit down as well.
The soldier quickly came forward with a tray and poured a cup of tea for Lin Chong before retreating to Jia Hui's side.
"Yes, General, among this group of people, the young ones are about the same quality as the infantry of last year's Northern Expedition. After all, they are only one or two years younger. But this time we have old soldiers participating! An army of fifty thousand people. There are 10,000 people among them who are veterans who have retired from the Beijing camp. I even feel that these 50,000 troops are much stronger than the 50,000 infantry troops in the Beijing camp last year!" Speaking of the team he had raised, Lin Chong said He excitedly introduced it to Jia Hui.
After the Cao Gong children's service period in the Beijing Camp expires, they will have an opportunity to choose whether to stay or not. Many people choose to retire and return home due to various reasons.
Now, some veterans who are unwilling to retire have chosen to fight again.
After all, the situation of the battle is already clear. If we don't seize the opportunity to fight, this life will pass like this.
Afterwards, they chatted for two more cups of tea. Lin Chong was still a little tired when he saw him, so he probably socialized with someone from Yangzhou.
"That's right. You should go down and take a rest first. When night comes, let's go see them together."
. . . . . .
"Master! Look, it's Master!"
"The father-in-law is here!"
"Come and see the father-in-law!"
"Oh, Lao Ning, look, the father-in-law came to see me and us!"
"Don't shake, don't shake, I can't see clearly!"
When they heard that Grandpa Jia Hui had come to the military camp to see everyone, the children of the workers immediately became excited and ran out of the tents one after another. They spontaneously came to the school field and lined up to wait for the Duke to come.
Then I saw a dozen cavalrymen guarding a big man riding a tall horse in the middle and coming to the general stand.
It’s the father-in-law!
The disciples' eyes suddenly turned red with excitement, causing a commotion in the queue.
Look, that is the pride of our old water workers. They are the descendants of the first batch of water workers Yuancong who followed Taizu in the war!
He is now the highest noble among the nobles who are old water workers!
Jia Hui laughed and got off his horse, waving to everyone and getting on the general platform.
The father-in-law raised his hand and made a downward gesture in the direction of the large army.
The father-in-law is about to speak! Everyone immediately fell silent.
"Brothers, Jia Hui is here!"
The crowd was silent for a moment, then burst into louder voices.
"My lord, I am victorious!"
Everyone looked at Mr. Jia on the referee's stage with fanaticism. This man had carried the old man's coffin, and he was truly one of our own!
Jia Hui looked at the army of workers who had been chanting "My Lord, Wan Sheng" and nodded with satisfaction.
Very good, military morale is available.
As long as they maintain an invincible state, their morale and morale will remain high.
Likewise, this morale is extremely unstable. A small loss of one or two games is fine, but if there is a big loss, even if the loss is just a little bigger, the morale of the army will almost collapse.
The White Lotus Army in Zhenjiang City is a good example.
Even if the food inside can last for several months, the troops breaking out are getting weaker and weaker.
Only those 10,000 old soldiers can maintain a certain morale.
However, Jia Hui is not worried about losing.
The strength of both sides lies here.
"The White Lotus Cult rebelled and massacred Zhongliang. The sons of Cao Gong, please follow me to put down the rebellion!"
"Swear to follow the father-in-law to the death!"
Fifty thousand people shouted in unison, with murderous intent.
. . . . . .
"Old Feng, I will leave it to you to besiege Zhenjiang and stabilize the territory. Don't let me down."
"Don't worry, General. Let the affairs of Jinling, Zhenjiang and the two prefectures be left to the junior general!" Feng Tai handed over to Jia Hui with a firm tone.
"Um."
Jia Hui nodded, but still felt that it was not safe, so he moved towards Feng Tai.
"Work hard. If you do well, when your term as the general officer of the Jiangnan Camp is completed, I will ensure that you enter the Zuo Army Governor's Mansion and become my colleague." After speaking to Feng Tai in a low voice, he ignored the comments. Feng Tai, who was confused by the words, reacted and Jia Hui got on his horse.
"Set off!"
. . . . . .
On August 29, the sixth year of Tiansheng, Grand Sima General Jia Hui led 50,000 Jianghuai water workers, more than 3,000 Suzaku cavalry, and 3,000 firearms battalions, a total of more than 56,000 Daqi regular soldiers, and 30,000 auxiliary soldiers. More than 86,000 people, a so-called 100,000-strong army, crossed from Xijin to the east, bypassed Zhenjiang City, and embarked on a journey to counter the rebellion.
In September, Jiangyin, Wuxi, and Changshu were recovered one after another.
On the 18th, with the help of Xiu Yi from Suzhou, the Qi army successfully broke through the city.
On the 20th, the army besieged Jiading City. The Xiuyi Guards mobilized the people in the city who could not bear the oppression to rise up and attacked and killed eight senior rebels including the White Lotus Jiading garrison in the street. The Jiading White Lotus garrison surrendered in Kaicheng.
At this point, Changzhou Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture were completely restored.
On the 22nd, the Songjiang Prefecture rebels were under pressure and forced a total of 130,000 strong men. The so-called 200,000-strong army wanted to take advantage of the Qi army's exhaustion and rest to defeat the counter-rebellion army in one fell swoop.
A battle broke out between the two sides in Malu Town, southeast of Jiading City. Grand Sima General Jia Hui ordered the firearms battalion to bombard the rebel front troops, and personally led the Suzaku Cavalry to break through the White Lotus Army's front army positions, break into Ma Town, and shoot down the banner with one arrow! The already weak military morale of the rebels collapsed instantly. They were defeated and surrendered one after another.
On the 26th, Songjiang Prefecture was no longer able to resist, so they all opened the city and surrendered. The entire territory of Songjiang Prefecture was recovered.
On the seventh day of October, the Qi army, which had completed their training, went south again, defeated Jiashan, Pinghu, and Tongxiang, and surrounded Jiaxing.
On the 21st, the general defeated the White Lotus Sect's Huzhou reinforcements in Nanxun. He and Pingliang Beruda attacked the capital city of Huzhou. On the 27th, Pingliang Boyhen took the lead and attacked the city first. The entire territory of Huzhou Prefecture was restored.
On the second day of winter, the general led his troops to suddenly go south to attack Deqing, as if intending to directly attack Hangzhou.
The young master and saint of the White Lotus Sect in Hangzhou was shocked and quickly recalled the 30,000 troops that had been besieging Tongxiang for nearly half a month to come back for reinforcements. Unexpectedly, they fell into the trap of the general.
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the Qi army ambushed the already exhausted rebels who were on the march in the southeast of the mountains. The rebels were defeated and less than 3,000 people fled back to Hangzhou.
"By the eleventh day of the winter lunar month, our army had surrounded the city of Hangzhou. Yuhang, Fuyang, Lin'an and other surrounding cities had been recovered.
By the twelfth day of the winter lunar month, only Zhenjiang City, Hangzhou City, Shaoxing Prefecture and Jinhua Prefecture were still being ravaged by the White Lotus rebels. A few months ago, I sent troops from Taizhou, Wenzhou, Chuzhou, Quzhou and Yanzhou to blockade Jinhua Mansion. Donghai Navy was also ordered to guard Ningbo Mansion. The White Lotus traitor is like a turtle in an urn, and his time has come. "
In Xiyuan, the emperor was holding the eighteenth eldest princess in his arms, holding the memorial sent by Jia Hui and looking at it carefully word by word. He also asked Chen Jingyuan, the righteous prince who was recently promoted to be a good grandson, to read aloud from the rubbings and nod with pleasure from time to time.
Seeing his darling grandson coughing, the emperor quickly asked someone to give his darling grandson some water.
"Father, my fourth nephew studies very hard, let him rest!" The five-year-old eldest princess could not understand the difference between memorials and books. In her opinion, paper full of words is called a book.
However, seeing that his nephew had started to cough after reading a book, he quickly begged his father for mercy.
"Okay, okay, just listen to Xiao Qi'er. My dear grandson, stop reading. Come sit down with Grandpa Huang and thank you!"
Now that the eldest princess had given her advice, the emperor naturally followed her advice and waved to his darling grandson to come over and eat an orange.
"Huh, thank you, Grandpa Huang." Chen Jingyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief and finished reading.
Jia Da, Jia Da, why did you write such a long memorial when you have nothing to do?
"Oh, nephew, thank you Aunt Eighteen for your mercy." He sat down on the soft couch, picked an orange from the tray and peeled it. Chen Jingyuan smiled and thanked the eldest princess.
"You're welcome, you're welcome, the emperor's nephew is working hard too!" The eldest princess' face was full of pride.
He ate half of the orange with a smile, then tore the other half clean and gave it to his aunt who was more than ten years younger than him.
Although Aunt Eighteen had just advised her not to, she still had to express her feelings. Kindness deserves praise.
The emperor looked at the harmonious scene of brother, sister, aunt and nephew in front of him with a smile, and felt relieved.
As I get older, I like to see this kind of family having fun together.
"Father, my son is here!"
Immediately, people were kneeling inside and outside Yanguang Hospital, saluting the excited man who broke the warm atmosphere.
"Alas, here comes the spoiler."
"Uh hehe." The emperor did not lower his voice. Chen Jingyuan could only smile stupidly when he heard these words.
"Brother Imperial!" When the little princess saw the person coming, she quickly broke away from her own father's arm holding her and hugged the person.
"My son, please see your father!" Chen Jingyuan also bowed down.
"Ah, the emperor is exempt from the courtesy. Father, I would like to pay my respects to my father!"
Isn’t this the day that people come?
"Humph!" The emperor became furious when he saw his beloved daughter hugging her silly third brother with a smile.
Why is this guy so popular with children? Why don’t I have this ability!
"Come on, Xiao Shiba, here you go, go out and play. The emperor wants to talk about something with the father." The emperor smiled and took out a bamboo dragonfly from his arms and handed it to the eldest princess. She just loved to play. How could the young eldest princess endure this? He lay on the third brother's face and pecked him, saluted the emperor and ran out of Yanguangyuan happily.
The emperor became more and more displeased with the emperor.
The emperor, the emperor, Chen Jingyuan's ancestors and grandson were the only three people left in the room.
"My dear grandson, your brother has done a great job." The emperor said quietly to Chen Si, his eyes full of nostalgia.
"Hey, it's mainly because Grandpa Huang and Father Huang have a keen eye for people and gave Jinyu opportunities and trust. In addition, Jinyu also strives for success and has some abilities. If he doesn't have this ability, he won't be able to seize it no matter how many opportunities are given to him. Stay." Chen Si said modestly on behalf of Jia Hui.
It's just that Grandpa Huang's words of "good grandson" are so annoying!
The Emperor smiled, then returned to his expressionless expression and looked at the Emperor.
"Emperor, what are you doing here?"
Can you please stop changing your face so quickly, Father!
The emperor felt a little aggrieved, but he had gotten used to it over the years and immediately adjusted his mentality.
"Father, Jin Yu has already surrounded the city of Hangzhou and successfully surrounded the two command teams of the White Lotus Sect. My son, I came here this time just to discuss the rewards for the soldiers who put down the rebellion."
I have been waiting for a long time. I have been writing this chapter all day long. I have been struggling with the details and abbreviation of counterinsurgency. I have been revising it, and finally decided to abbreviate it.
After all, the only thing left to do next is to attack the city. It is enough to attack one city.
Please end this plot as soon as possible, I'm tired of writing.
In addition, I decided to write Gao Xianye to death with great fanfare. After all, he was the last loyal person in the previous dynasty and was the last one to die for the Great Liang. How about this honor?
(End of chapter)
