"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"Pay attention to your formation and don't rush ahead. One wrong step on the battlefield will result in your death!"
On June 20, there were shouts of killing outside Peking City. However, this was not the Confederate army coming to attack the city, but Zhu Di training soldiers recruited from Peiping and Yongping.
Due to Zhu Gaoxu's persecution, Zhu Di raised his troops two months earlier than in history, and the advance time resulted in the Southern Army's supplies and troops not having time to assemble.
Originally, Zhu Yunwen planned to mobilize 130,000 troops in Kaifeng, and then start cutting down the vassal state when Geng Bingwen took control.
As a result, Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di took action in advance, causing the southern army's gathering to end.
In addition, Fang Zhao was quickly defeated by Zhu Di, and Zhu Gaoxu also threw Liaodong into chaos. Without the restraints of Wu Gao and Yang Wen, Zhu Di could calm down and train his troops to deal with Geng Bingwen, who was about to go north.
With the situation like this, Zhu Di already felt very good. He had not thought that his second brother could beat Wu Gao to the ground.
But if Zhu Gaoxu was beside him, he might pat him on the shoulder and say that he was too slow to act, just like now...
"What did that person say?"
When Zhu Di took Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui to inspect the soldiers and horses training outside the city, Zhang Yu sent someone to deliver the news.
It was just the content of the news that made Zhu Di a little unbelievable.
The person who came to report the news was Meng Ying, who had been promoted to the position of Qianhu Official. Seeing that His Highness did not believe it, he had no choice but to speak again:
"His Second Highness sent someone to cross the sea from Jinzhou to Yongping, saying that all four southern Liaozhou states have been captured, Liaoyang and Fushun have surrendered, Liu Zhen has been defeated and Jiulian City has been defeated, and only Geng Feng is still defending Shenyang."
"In addition, His Highness has sent tens of thousands of troops to cross the Liao River. I am afraid that the troops have already arrived in Guangning."
"The Second Highness hopes that you can send people to attack Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan, and attack Liaoxi troops with him from head to tail. This is the Bohai seal that that person brought."
After Meng Ying explained everything, she also handed over a wooden box.
After Zhu Di took the wooden box and opened it, he saw the seal of the commander under the Bohai Prince's Palace, and beside it was a white paper with the seal of the Prince of Bohai.
Seeing this blank piece of paper, Zhu Di already believed that the man was sent by Zhu Gaoxu, but he still couldn't believe that Zhu Gaoxu actually captured Liaonan, Liaobei, and Liaoyang so quickly.
"How many troops are there on the second side? Did that person tell me?"
Zhu Di looked at Meng Ying in disbelief. Meng Ying shook his head: "I didn't say, but from his few words, Commander Zhang inferred that there should be no less than 30,000 people on the Second Highness's side, otherwise they would not be able to surround Geng Gu and attack him." Retreat Liu Zhen, and at the same time launch an offensive towards Guangning."
There is nothing wrong with Zhang Yu's analysis, at least in Zhu Di's opinion.
He didn't believe that his second-in-command dared to challenge the Liaodong Dusi with only sixteen thousand men, and could defeat the Liaodong Dusi who had 60,000 troops.
"It's okay, there aren't many of us anyway."
Zhu Di touched his beard and looked at his troops with a smile.
After defeating Fang Zhao, he moved the population of Huailai to Changping, and recruited 30,000 soldiers from Jiangbing and the common people of Beiping and Yongping.
Counting Liu Zhen, the commander of Huailai Guards who turned against him, and the troops of Kaiping Five Guards, he already had an army of 70,000 in his hands.
Now he has only more than 380,000 soldiers and civilians in total, but he has more than 2.4 million shi of food, which is enough to feed the soldiers and civilians for a year and a half.
In Zhu Di's view, the only thing better than him is that he only needs to defend Zhaozhou, Fuzhou, and Jinzhou, but he is surrounded by enemies on all sides, the situation is more complicated than him, and the number of troops he can mobilize is also limited.
However, if he really follows what the second brother said, he can first capture Liaoxi, and then command the second child to capture Daning, and the two divisions will join forces to deal with Geng Bingwen's 130,000-strong army.
With one hundred thousand against one hundred and thirty thousand, Zhu Di was confident that he could deal with Geng Bingwen.
"Let Zhu Neng lead the three guards of Yanshan to attack Shanhaiguan. If he cannot win, I will personally lead the troops to help him in half a month."
Zhu Di gave an order to Meng Ying, and Meng Ying bowed in response.
After he turned around and left, Zhu Di turned around and looked at Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui, who had been surprised just now.
"Dad, will we be able to join forces with my second brother soon?"
Zhu Gaosui was in fear all day long, fearing that a million troops from the south would march northward.
Now that he heard that his second brother had captured all the cities east of the Liaohe River except Shenyang and Jiulian City, he naturally relaxed a lot and felt happy.
"Of course!" Zhu Di stroked his beard and said, "I will take your second brother south to see if I can get that little brat Zhu Yunwen to hand over Huang Zicheng and Qitai."
With Zhu Gaochi's help, Zhu Di was more confident about the peace talks, but when he looked at Zhu Gaochi, he wondered: "Why doesn't the boss speak?"
Zhu Gaochi had been listening to the cavalry matters between his father and his second brother throughout the whole process, but he didn't say anything, which made Zhu Di confused.
Seeing this, Zhu Gaochi was also uneasy and said: "If the court in the south knows that Lao Er has captured Liaonan, I am afraid they will send more troops to Changxing Marquis."
"That's true..." Zhu Di laughed and said, "But it's okay, just watch me and the second child show off their skills."
Zhu Di can still laugh now, but he is still thinking about commanding Zhu Gaoxu to fight against Daning after reuniting with Zhu Gaoxu.
Compared to how happy he was, the Zhu Yunwen they talked about was furious at the moment...
"Shenyang held on for twenty-nine days and still contained the rebel army, but why didn't Gaizhou and Fuzhou even hold on for five days?"
In the Wuying Hall of the Forbidden City, Zhu Yunwen took the memorial sent by the Shandong Dusi and questioned Bao Zhao, Qi Tai, and Huang Zicheng to his heart's content.
Among the three, only Qi Tai was proficient in military affairs, so Qi Tai had no choice but to say: "Your Majesty, the common people in Bohai have sharp artillery. It's not that Fuzhou didn't defend the city, but that it really couldn't be defended. There are hundreds of generals above the rank of official. The formation is gone, which shows that they have been holding on until the last moment."
"Then Liu Zhen used 10,000 men to attack Jinzhou, which was unable to capture the 6,000 defenders for nine days. It also shows that the Bohai pirate army is elite and cannot be compared with the southwest bandits."
Qitai was also very helpless. Before they started to cut down the feudal vassal, they didn't know that Zhu Gaoxu would hide so many soldiers.
Originally, they estimated that Zhu Gaoxu only had 20,000 troops at most. Excluding the troops left behind, he could lead at most 15,000 men southward.
But the facts slapped them in the face again and again. Zhu Gaoxu led nearly 40,000 troops southward, and fought more and more troops all the way south.
Counting the surrendered cities of Liaoyang, Haizhou, Gaizhou, Jinzhou, and 30,000 Guards, Zhu Gaoxu's military strength was probably close to 60,000.
His 60,000 plus Zhu Di's 60,000 combined make up 120,000, which is almost as much as Geng Bingwen's unassembled army.
"Now that the soldiers and horses of the Bohai people have crossed the Liao River and attacked Guangning, King Ning also refused to enter the capital because Guangning was in danger. Only the King of Gu and the King of Liao went south to the capital. What do you think?"
Zhu Yunwen glanced at Qitai and the others and told them about the implementation of previous decrees issued by the imperial court.
Needless to say, King Zhu Zhi of Liao and King Zhu Sui of Gu. Zhu Zhi's army was trained by Guo Ying. Zhu Zhi himself had no time to take over the army when Zhu Yuanzhang died and Zhu Yunwen took over the power of the three guards.
Not to mention the King of Valley Zhu Sui, he had been controlled by Fang Zhao before. After Fang Zhao's defeat, his three guards were left with less than 5,000 people, while Datong not far away from him had no less than 5,000 people. Ten thousand officers and soldiers, so after receiving the order, he simply handed over the military power and went south.
There is a reason why they are so cheerful. Whether it is Zhu Sui, the king of Gu, or Zhu Zhi, the king of Liao, they are actually a group of people who grew up at the same time as Zhu Yunwen. In addition, their role is only to prevent the two powerful vassals of Yan and Jin from colluding. Therefore, it is impossible to cut off the vassal clan on their heads.
Compared with them, Ning Wang Zhu Quan led his people to close the gate of the palace as early as Bu Wan took over the military power, and lived his life in the palace with 3,000 guards.
Zhu Yunwen told him to enter the capital, but Huailai and Kaiping were captured by Zhu Di, and Guangning was invaded by Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Quan simply used the excuse that the Liao Dynasty was unstable and could not go south.
Zhu Yunwen might not take action against the King of Liao and the King of Gu, but once Zhu Quan goes south, even if Zhu Yunwen doesn't take action against him at first, he will be cruel to him in the future after he succeeds in reducing the vassal status.
In this case, it is better to wait and see.
How could Zhu Yunwen not know what he was thinking?
If the quarrel between Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di hadn't been too big at the moment, Zhu Yunwen might have asked Bu Wan and Chen Heng to capture Zhu Quan and escort him to the capital.
Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai, and Bao Zhao also knew Zhu Yunwen's thoughts. They also did not want to cause trouble, so Bao Zhao was the first to stand up and advise: "The King of Liao is going south, and there are Wu Sheng and Wu Shouan stationed in Guangning and Shanhaiguan. I want to come." Even if we lose, we can still hold on until Marquis Changxing goes north."
"Yes, your Majesty, please rest assured..." Huang Zicheng agreed.
At this time, Qitai once again stood up and sang the opposite tune.
"Your Majesty, I believe that now the Marquis of Changxing should be transferred to the north to garrison at Zhending. At the same time, troops and horses from Shaanxi, Sichuan and other places should be transferred to the Marquis of Changxing."
"In this way, the Marquis of Changxing will have about 200,000 troops, which will give him a greater chance of winning against Yan Ni. At the same time, after defeating Yan Ni, he can enter Liaodong, pacify the Bohai pirates, and restore peace to the north."
"In addition, troops and horses should be mobilized from Daning to western Liaoning. Whether they are sent to Guangning or Shanhaiguan, Liaoxi will be stuck between Yan Ni and the Bohai pirates, making it impossible for the two armies to join forces."
Qi Tai was also very tired. If Zhu Yunwen had listened to him from the beginning and took the lead in attacking Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, there would have been so many things. But he insisted on listening to Huang Zicheng and others to kill other vassal kings, thus giving Zhu Gaoxu time to prepare. .
"Assemble 70,000 troops from Sichuan, Huguang, Shaanxi, and Jiangbei to rush to support Zhending and place them under the control of Marquis Changxing."
Zhu Yunwen was obedient this time. He didn't know much about Daning, so he could only entrust Qi Tai: "Please ask Mr. Qi to mobilize Daning troops to Guangning and Shanhaiguan."
"In addition, Yang Song and Pan Zhong from Songpan will be mobilized to lead Songpan's nine thousand elite cavalry to rush for reinforcements. They must arrive at Zhending before July 15th."
"I accept your order..." Qi Tai bowed in agreement and said at the same time: "Daning is mostly an old tribe of Yan common people, so this battle can involve Liu Zhen's eldest son, Xincheng Guard Commander Liu Song, who will lead Xincheng, Yingchang, Muyu , Huizhou and other guardsmen went to rescue Guangning."
"Precisely!" Zhu Yunwen agreed, and at the same time asked again: "Will the war in the southwest be settled?"
"Back to your majesty, our army has captured Galai. Now the Marquis of Xiping may have arrived at Longchuan. Soon we will be able to capture Yun Jiemu of Luchuan and capture Dao Ganmeng alive." Qi Tai also gave everyone a boost of morale. .
"Okay..." Zhu Yunwen nodded slowly: "If Dao Ganmeng can be defeated, then the 100,000 troops from the southwest can be transferred to Peiping to quell the rebellion."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, we still have 200,000 troops available in Zhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi. We also have 100,000 troops in Fujian and Guangxi. Yan Ni is like a worm shaking a tree, or a mantis' arm acting as a chariot."
Huang Zicheng followed Qi Tai to encourage people, but Zhu Yunwen was not in the mood to listen to this now. He wanted to end this out-of-control situation as soon as possible.
Seeing that the emperor was in no mood to continue the discussion, the three of them wisely left Wuying Hall.
Zhu Yunwen returned to Jintai and sat down, but before he could take a breath, he heard the news that Yu Xin, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, asked for an audience.
Enduring his impatience, Zhu Yunwen asked Xuan Yuxin to enter the palace.
"Your Majesty, may you be blessed and well..."
After Yu Xin entered the palace, he bowed five times and kowtowed three times, and then started talking about business.
"Since this year, no less than 3 million in money and food have been lost due to the rebellion of bandits in the north. In the direction of Kaifeng, no less than 2 million in money and food have been allocated for the Marquis of Changxing."
"These are just the north, but the south is even worse..."
"The war in the southwest drained the treasury of the governor's offices of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guangxi provinces. Sichuan can still be self-sufficient, but Guangxi and Yunnan need to allocate 500,000 shi each in money and grain to maintain it, totaling 1 million."
"Total of all the above, the imperial court has spent six million in money and food. Now Shanxi Fang Zhao, Liaodong Wu Shouan, Wu Sheng, Liu Zhen and others have requested the court to allocate money and food. The total amount before and after is no less than two million."
"Da Ning sent a message saying that most of the money and food allocated by Hongwu in the past thirty years have been spent, and it is only enough to last for seven months. Please transfer 1.3 million dan of food."
"The total of these is 3.3 million. Including losses, it is probably not less than 4 million."
As expected, Yu Xin came with a troublesome problem. Zhu Yunwen understood what Yu Xin wanted to say just after listening to it, and what Yu Xin said next was just as he expected.
"This year, the imperial court has already reduced taxes in the south of the Yangtze River and exempted all arrears of taxes from all over the world. Adding in military pay, the loss was more than three million. Now it has only increased expenses by ten million. If this continues, the loss will be thirteen million. It’s huge.”
"If this continues, even though Emperor Gao left such a large amount of money and food, he can't help but squander it. Therefore, I ask your Majesty to stop this year's use of banknotes to offset taxes in Jiangnan."
Yu Xin spoke sincerely, and Zhu Yunwen naturally listened. But whether he could listen was one thing, and whether he could act on it was another.
"My court has been in debt to Jiangnan for a long time. At the beginning of the year, we promised the people of Jiangnan to use banknotes to offset taxes in southern Zhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi. But now it has to be discontinued. What prestige does this give the court?"
"Besides, isn't it that Emperor Gao left money and food from the three years of taxation to the new dynasty to benefit the people?"
Zhu Yunwen has his own opinions, and these opinions also come from reality.
The foundation Zhu Yuanzhang left behind was so strong that the money and grain stored alone was the fiscal revenue for the three years of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention the 20,000 tribute students and one million troops of the Imperial College.
Based on the foundation left by Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yunwen's tax arrears for the world will not affect the normal operation of the court at all, even if the three provinces of Jiangnan use banknotes to offset taxes.
What really affects the imperial court is the ongoing rebellion in the north.
"If your Majesty insists on using money to offset taxes, then I will have no choice but to ask for an official position and return to my hometown..."
Yu Xin was very helpless. He knew very well the faces of the wealthy gentry households in the three provinces of Jiangnan. Once the three provinces started using banknotes to offset taxes, they would never stop.
The total summer tax and autumn grain tax for the three provinces is more than 12.6 million shi. If the tax is deducted with cash, I am afraid that not even one-third of it will be collected this year.
It’s the same this year, it’ll be the same next year…
If this happened every year, even without the current rebellion of the feudal lords and the military war in the southwest, it would only take seven or eight years for the foundation left by Zhu Yuanzhang to be exhausted.
In this case, it is better for him to retire early to avoid being implicated.
"Yu Xin, do you think that if I leave you, the household department will not be transferred?"
Seeing Yu Xin actually "threatening" himself, Zhu Yunwen stood up and scolded him.
But he seemed to have thought of Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions before his death, so he suppressed his temper: "Let's do this. This year, we will use banknotes to offset taxes. The limit for the three provinces is four million guan. Even if we use treasure banknotes to offset tax, we can only offset 4 million guan. how?"
Zhu Yunwen thought that he had made a lot of concessions, and in order to prevent Yu Xin from bringing up the old issues again in the future, he added: "After the Bohai pirates and Yan Ni are defeated, if you still want to become an official, I will not stop you. is you."
"Chen..." Yu Xin's words came to his lips, but he couldn't say anything.
In his opinion, Zhu Gaoxu's "On Cutting Down the Domain" was very good. The current situation was entirely caused by the new monarch himself, and no one else can be blamed.
But he thought about it, and with Xinjun's attitude towards him, he might not be pleased if he said it, so he stopped saying it.
"I accept the order and express my gratitude..."
"Back off."
Zhu Yunwen turned sideways, not wanting to continue looking at Yu Xin's appearance.
Upon seeing this, Yu Xin knew the situation, shook his head and left Wuying Hall.
Shortly after he walked out of Wuying Hall, he met Li Jinglong at the entrance of Wulou who had been waiting here for a long time.
Seeing Yu Xin, Li Jinglong immediately frowned and asked, "How is it? Does Your Majesty agree?"
"..." Yu Xin shook his head, and Li Jinglong also fell silent.
"Master Cao Guo, please take care of yourself." Yu Xin seemed to have seen something and reminded Li Jinglong specifically.
Li Jinglong didn't say anything when he saw this, he just bowed and made way for the veteran minister to pass.
After he left, Li Jinglong looked at his back and felt like a mountain. Although the peaks were no longer towering, they were still tall and strong.
It's just that as time goes by, the mountains are gradually filled up, and finally only a sharp corner is exposed on the ground.
People in the past knew this was the top of a mountain, but later people only thought it was a raised rock.
Yu Xin, an important minister entrusted by Zhu Yuanzhang, was treated like this, but what about himself...
Li Jinglong thought of what Yu Xin had just said, then turned around and walked out of the outer court in silence.
He took a carriage at Xihua Gate and stopped in front of a mansion after a long detour.
After a briefing, the door of the mansion soon opened, and Li Jinglong got out of the carriage and walked into the mansion.
There are many plaques hanging above the gate of the mansion, but only the largest one is worth showing off... [Jiangyin Marquis Mansion].
"Xixi..."
The sound of tea pouring sounded, Li Jinglong sat in a pavilion, and the person in front of him was Wu Gao, who had just been transferred back to the capital.
"Thank you..."
Li Jinglong kowtowed his fingers to express his gratitude. At the same time, he picked up the tea cup and sniffed it for a few times. Then he said, "Has the Marquis entered the palace to report on his duties?"
"Your Majesty asked me to enter the palace again at the age of twenty-five." Wu Gao's voice came, and Li Jinglong also raised his head and looked at him.
He was dressed in plain robes, and his face seemed a bit older. It was unclear whether it was due to exhaustion from fighting Zhu Gaoxu.
Li Jinglong thought of Zhu Gaoxu, the person who had taught him how to deal with the Japanese.
But unexpectedly, time has passed and now the two have become enemies.
"What does the Marquis think of the common people of Bohai?"
Li Jinglong asked knowingly, but Wu Gao took a sip of tea leisurely, and then shook his head: "The Qi soldiers are commendable, they are just like regular soldiers, all because of their sharp firearms."
"Does the Marquis think Liaoxi can stop him?" Li Jinglong asked again, Wu Gao still shook his head:
"The fewer the enemy's troops are, the greater his chances of victory, and the more troops he has, the easier it is to lose."
"What's the explanation?" Li Jinglong frowned in confusion, and Wu Gao also said truthfully: "I saw it when I was in Tieling. Their various departments are not cooperative and coordinated. Once they confront our army with heavy troops, it is easy for things to happen during the war."
"I tried to attract him by pretending to be defeated, but his troops could only pursue for a few dozen steps before the position began to collapse. If he hadn't ordered to stop the pursuit in time, I might have been able to win in Tieling."
"At first I thought it was because he was not good at training his troops, but I never thought that when I withdrew from Shenyang to southern Liaoning, I saw that his troops were firmly in a position that was difficult to shake."
"Later I figured it out. He had never led tens of thousands of troops against the enemy. In order to hide his troops, many of his troops had never been seen before. Therefore, once they were forcibly organized together, it would cause the tribes to self-defeat. The formation is chaotic and the lineup is not smooth.”
"On the contrary, when the tens of thousands of people under his command dispersed, their position was solid and could not be shaken unless they were multiples of their strength."
Having said this, Wu Gao took a sip of tea and said calmly: "When fighting against him, do not defend the city. Choose the open field and assemble an army several times his size to force his army to concentrate and then encircle and annihilate him."
"Where are the firearms?" Li Jinglong asked about Zhu Gaoxu's firearms. Wu Gao also nodded and said:
"Although its firearms are sharp, its artillery can only be used once every one hour. After using it, you need to wait another one hour."
"The time of this word is enough to change the situation of the battle, and the fire blunderbuss in his hand is still sharp, and it is even more majestic like King Qianning's Dingbian victory. However, as long as he rushes to the front of the formation, his fire blunderbuss cannot be used, so I said that it is necessary Several times more troops.”
Wu Gao's intention was obvious, which was to use human lives to fill the gap. Within a quarter of an hour when the artillery stopped firing, he would gather heavy troops and rush to the front of the formation to crush the Bohai Navy with sheer numbers.
"The number of the Bohai pirate army may not be less than 60,000..."
Li Jinglong spoke softly, but Wu Gao shook his head: "The ones who can fight are still those 40,000 people, and there is only one chance. After using it, there is no way to use it again. He has a keen sense of smell and will not be fooled twice."
"I have learned a lesson..." Li Jinglong stood up and bowed, and Wu Gao also stood up and returned the salute.
Not long after, he saw Li Jinglong leaving the pavilion and walking out along the corridor.
Looking at his back, Wu Gao shook his head and said nothing...
(End of chapter)
