"Why did you ask me to withdraw to Zhuozhou?"
On the evening of the sixth day of the lunar month, when Zhu Di's inquiry rang out from the Yanjun camp on the north bank of the Baigou River, Yao Guangxiao also counted the beads and said.
"Right now, the Southern Army should have known that His Highness the Second Prince has made a surprise attack on Huainan. In my humble opinion, they should not engage in combat with the Southern Army for the time being. Instead, they should wait for the Southern Army's movement and defeat it with a side attack as it heads south."
At this moment, there were only two people, Yao Guangxiao and Zhu Di, in the big tent. Facing Yao Guangxiao's words, Zhu Di also frowned: "What if Li Jiujiang doesn't leave?"
"No." Yao Guangxiao shook his head and said, "His Second Highness dares to go south lightly. He must have something to rely on. The imperial court's more than 100,000 soldiers and horses in the south will definitely not be able to stop His Highness."
"Besides, if we are entangled with Li Jinglong here, we will be at a disadvantage. We should use the Southern Army to go south and follow it to bring us closer to Yingtian. Even if something happens to His Highness, we will not There is another set of assets that continues to fight the Confederate army.”
Yao Guangxiao's idea was simple: withdraw to Zhuozhou, let Li Jinglong despise them, and then wait for Zhu Gaoxu to make things worse in the south. By then, Li Jinglong would inevitably lead his army south, and Zhu Di could take the opportunity to engage in mobile warfare with Li Jinglong.
Judging from today's situation, it is difficult for the Yan Army to defeat the Southern Army when the two armies are facing each other head-on.
Therefore, it is better to let the Southern Army disorganize its position and adjust its troops to go south, thereby taking advantage of the Yan Army's advantage and defeating Li Jinglong's 200,000-strong army on the way south.
Of course, Yao Guangxiao just made a suggestion. Whether to adopt it or not depends on Zhu Di himself.
However, before Zhu Di spoke, Yao Guangxiao reminded:
"In addition, Your Highness needs to understand one thing. Although our army has 170,000 troops, 50,000 of them are His Highness's soldiers."
"If His Highness the Second Highness takes over the capital now, will the throne be given to you, or will he take it for himself..."
Yao Guangxiao raised the issue of the throne, which happened to be something Zhu Di had not thought about.
Yesterday, he was still thinking about how to defeat Li Jinglong's 200,000 troops, how to march south to Xuzhou, and how to cross the Yangtze River and Huaihe River.
But just one night later, Yao Guangxiao found him with the news that he had led Zhu Gaoxu to break through the Huaihe River and reach Huainan.
Faced with this problem, Zhu Di didn't even hesitate. He naturally wanted to be the emperor.
But now, according to Yao Guangxiao, Zhu Gaoxu clearly has the upper hand, and he can't break up with him yet.
If Zhu Gaoxu wants to be the emperor himself, then he can only become the Supreme Emperor. However, since ancient times, few Supreme Emperors have ended up well.
"What do you think?"
Zhu Di asked Yao Guangxiao in a deep voice, but Yao Guangxiao still said the same thing: "Follow the southern army to withdraw to the south, and then Qingqi go south when His Highness crosses the river to surround Yingtian. As long as Yingtian is surrounded, you Qingqi go south again. Your Highness will take filial piety into consideration, even if If I don’t want to give up the throne, I still have to discuss it with you.”
In fact, Yao Guangxiao wanted Zhu Di Qingqi to go south, but he did not have Zhu Gaoxu's navy and could not transport so much food. Therefore, once something happened to Qingqi going south, Zhu Di's fortune might be severely damaged.
If the father and son fail to capture Yingtian by then, the situation will be difficult to predict...
Facing Yao Guangxiao's words, Zhu Di struggled for a moment: "Old monk, are you sure that Li Jiujiang will retreat?"
"It's not Li Jiujiang who wants to retreat now, but the imperial court asking him to retreat." Yao Guangxiao knew the temper of the group of people above the temple very well.
Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu had reached Huainan and would soon surround Yangzhou City, they would definitely be unable to sit still.
Judging from the information he has, the imperial court has mobilized Wu Gao, Li Jian, Yu Tongyuan and other 110,000 troops to go south. But judging from their march, in addition to Yu Tongyuan and Ping'an, they should be able to lead more than 10,000 cavalry to arrive in these days. Outside Huainan, the remaining two infantry units will not be ready until at least the middle to late this month.
Although Zhu Gaoxu seemingly abandoned the baggage and artillery, Yao Guangxiao knew very well that if Zhu Gaoxu really abandoned these two things, he would never be able to defeat the Yunti Pass.
The fact that he can conquer the Yunti Pass means that he not only has food, but also well-hidden artillery.
Once Zhu Gaoxu had artillery and bombarded Yangzhou City before Wu Gao, Li Jian and others went south, Yangzhou City would only be in danger for three to five days.
People who know how to fight can keep their composure, but the group of people above the temple can never keep their composure.
After Yao Guangxiao finished speaking, he turned his attention to Zhu Di, who was also tangled under the candlelight.
After a moment, he slowly raised his head and said: "Retreat fifty miles north. If Li Jiujiang really leads his army south, I will lead 70,000 horse and infantry cavalry south to intercept him!"
As Zhu Di spoke, the stone in Yao Guangxiao's heart completely fell to the ground.
At the same time, when they were discussing the matter of going south, Ying Tiancheng felt gloomy and gloomy.
Even though it was already dusk, there were still many soldiers and officials walking on the streets.
Since Zhu Gaoxu surrounded Yangzhou, prices in Jiangnan have skyrocketed, and the imperial court's policy of using treasure banknotes as military pay has made the whole of Yingtian sigh.
Under the policy of the Jianwen court, more than half of the tens of millions of Guan Baobao that Zhu Yuanzhang received in exchange for tax credits was released instantly.
Whether it is the Yangtze River Navy or the Pingjiang Navy, the Yangzhou garrison, the Yingtian garrison and the Zhenjiang garrison.
Many soldiers have received treasure notes that have devalued to 400 cash each. Not only that, the value of these treasure notes is still declining.
This situation makes the treasure coins obtained by the soldiers increasingly worthless, and they cannot even buy a stone of rice.
Such an atmosphere made the entire Jiangnan garrison lax in defense, but Zhu Yunwen was still worried about Zhu Gaoxu in the north, and was not aware of his own internal problems at all.
"The common people of Bohai have been surrounding Yangzhou for two days. If nothing goes wrong, tomorrow evening Yuexunhou and Pingbaoersuo will lead 10,000 cavalry into Yangzhou Prefecture. As for Wu Gao and Li Jian, it will take another seven or eight days. It will take about ten days to enter Yangzhou Mansion, and it will take about ten days to arrive at Yangzhou City."
In the Wuying Hall, Zhu Yunwen told the officials about the situation at hand, and at the same time suppressed: "This Bohai common man seems to have thrown himself into a trap. It won't be long before he is bound by the court's dragnet."
Zhu Yunwen simply looked at the situation on paper. Qi Tai also stepped forward and bowed:
"Right now, people in Jiangnan are in a state of flux. The imperial court should reduce taxes to calm people in Jiangnan."
"I second the proposal..." Bao Zhao also spoke in agreement.
As soon as the two of them spoke, everyone spoke in agreement. It seemed that the people in Jiangnan had reached a point where they were incompatible with each other.
In this regard, Zhu Yunwen frowned: "At present, the imperial court is short of money and food. It is difficult to transport tens of millions of stones of grain from Shuicici warehouse along the canal to the south. There is no spare capacity for the reserve warehouses of various capital departments and the Changping warehouse of the Provincial Envoy Department. If there is still If we want to reduce or reduce taxes in Jiangnan, then..."
Although Zhu Yunwen said he was good to literati, he didn't understand everything.
From the 31st year of Hongwu to the present, he has reduced taxes in Jiangnan twice. If he continues to reduce taxes, the taxes in Jiangnan will be lower than those in Shaanxi, Shandong and other places in the north.
What is reduced must be increased. If the rebels cannot be eliminated in time, the north will definitely increase taxes, which is equivalent to pushing the northern soldiers and civilians to Zhu Di's side.
Therefore, in the face of Huang Zicheng, Bao Zhao and others' suggestions, Zhu Yunwen rarely chose to reject them, and everyone was not surprised to see their suggestions being rejected.
However, they also have ways to make Zhu Yunwen agree.
"Your Majesty, there are currently only more than 10,000 soldiers in Yingtian City, and less than 30,000 troops from the Five Cities. Please recruit soldiers to defend the city bravely!"
Fang Xiaoru spoke slowly, Zhu Yunwen frowned secretly and turned his gaze to Qi Tai.
"I think we can recruit brave men from the capital and countryside to defend the city, and give tax exemptions to the wealthy gentry who recruit brave men from the countryside."
Qi Tai naturally knew what Huang Zicheng and others thought, but he also felt that the Yingtian garrison was insufficient, so he chose to agree under Zhu Yunwen's disappointed eyes.
After he spoke, Zhu Yunwen had no choice but to choose Zhu Pi's new policy of recruiting Xiang Yong.
However, after Zhu's criticism was over, Zhu Yunwen was not stupid enough to not understand the situation among the people. Instead, he asked: "I heard that prices in Jiangnan have skyrocketed recently, and I can't even afford a stone of rice with a lot of money. Is this true?"
Zhu Yunwen questioned the ministers of the six ministries, but Qi Tai did not hide it and answered directly: "Your Majesty, it is indeed true."
"How is the morale of the armed forces? Do you have any complaints?" Zhu Yunwen asked worriedly, but Fang Xiaoru interrupted:
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. The officers and soldiers of the three armies are all aware of the difficulties faced by the imperial court. Moreover, the imperial court has promised to provide additional military pay after the war. Your Majesty does not need to worry."
"That's good..." Zhu Yun nodded, and then waved his hand to indicate that everyone could leave.
"I'll take my leave..."
The ministers retreated and looked at their backs. Zhu Yunwen rubbed his beating eyelids and felt that he couldn't relax.
At the same time, outside Yangzhou City, hundreds of miles away from the capital, Zhu Gaoxu was calculating the time in the brightly lit Bohai Navy camp.
He calculated based on the news before Yang Zhan crossed the Yangtze River Estuary, and roughly calculated that they should still be on their way to Shizhuang.
If nothing else happened, it would take them five or six days to surround the capital. At that time, he could lead his troops across the river without having to fight Sheng Yong.
But in his opinion, Sheng Yong seemed to be waiting for the opportunity to go out of the city to fight with him.
If he was alone, he would definitely not dare to fight him with 20,000 elite elites and 40,000 Jianghuai garrison troops.
At present, he has moved his army out of the north and south of the city, which shows that he must have reinforcements.
Zhu Gaoxu was very clear about the situation of the Southern Army. If anyone could rush south to help in these days, it would definitely be the cavalry in Beijing led by Ping An and Yu Tongyuan.
Those 7,000 cavalry plus the 3,000 cavalry supplied to them by Shanxi can make up 10,000 cavalry.
If they really go south, they will definitely use cavalry side attack and rear attack to deal with them.
"Chen Chang, divide the entire army's artillery into two groups and line up to face the north and the east respectively."
"In addition, set up a tent for the artillery to prevent the rainy season from arriving early!"
Zhu Gaoxu spoke to Chen Chang, who was sitting next to him. Chen Chang also bowed in response and asked people to adjust the angle of the artillery array overnight.
The next morning, with the arrival of the seventh day of the lunar month, the Bohai Navy still did not attack Yangzhou City, which made Sheng Yong who defended the city unavoidably worried.
He was worried that Zhu Gaoxu was hiding a backhand, and also thought about the naval issue that Li Jinglong reminded.
He sent people to Songjiang Mansion to inquire about the news, but he did not find out anything wrong.
Time passed little by little, and it was not until dusk on the seventh day of the lunar month that the situation in Yangzhou City changed at all.
After many days of long journey, Yu Tongyuan, Ping An and others finally arrived at Zhaobo Town, twenty miles north of Yangzhou Prefecture, at dusk on the seventh day of the lunar month.
Yu Tongyuan, who was worried about the lack of men and horses, ordered the entire army to rest and reorganize, and Tangqi from Bohai also sent news of their arrival back to the camp.
Zhu Gaoxu didn't take their arrival seriously. After all, he had long thought that Yu Tongyuan and Pingan would ride south lightly, but he didn't take these tens of thousands of cavalry seriously.
In five or six days at most, he would be able to surround the capital and cut off all Zhu Yunwen's outlets. There was no need for him to rush to fight Yu Tongyuan and Ping'an.
What he has to do now is to defend the camp and then cross the river while surrounding the capital.
"This common man from Bohai didn't make any movement when he saw us coming. It seems he doesn't take us seriously."
In Zhaobo Town, when Yu Tongyuan learned that Zhu Gaoxu from the south turned a blind eye to their arrival, he was immediately laughed out of anger.
Thinking about Yu Tongyuan's whole life of fighting in the north and south, he had never encountered a situation where he personally led tens of thousands of cavalry and was ignored. What's more, Zhu Gaoxu only had 40,000 soldiers and horses, and he only had 10,000 cavalry.
"Dad, do we want the army to go south tomorrow?"
A tall general standing at the head of Yu Tongyuan asked, this is Yu Tongyuan's second son Yu Jing.
When Yu Tongyuan's family was not implicated by Lan Yu, Yu Jing was also a famous brave general in the armed forces.
"First, wait for Governor Ping to go to Yangzhou to inquire about the news, and become familiar with the military methods of this Bohai commoner before deciding how to deal with him."
Yu Tongyuan stroked his long beard gently. Although he was very angry that Zhu Gaoxu looked down on him, he still knew very well how to deal with Zhu Gaoxu.
He has never fought against Zhu Gaoxu, but judging from the successive defeats of Wu Gao, Liu Zhen, Geng Gu and others, Zhu Gaoxu is by no means an easy opponent.
On his way south, Wu Gao told him about Zhu Gaoxu's military methods and shortcomings, but Yu Tongyuan didn't take it seriously.
He knew very well that Zhu Gaoxu was at the age where he could learn the art of war the fastest.
Since Wu Gao had retreated once and was noticed by Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaoxu would definitely strengthen his training in this area. Therefore, all the methods of using troops that Zhu Gaoxu had shown before must be overturned.
"Divide the army into three teams, and each team will take turns wearing armor to prepare for the enemy. Send the Tang cavalry twenty miles away to be careful of night attacks by the Bohai common people."
Yu Tongyuan told Yu Jing, turned around and went to rest in the courtyard.
In today's Huaidong, more than a million people fled early. Many old people who passed through the late Yuan Dynasty knew exactly where they were going, so they avoided places with water stations, stations, and roads and ran to remote countryside to take shelter.
As a result, it made it very difficult for the Southern Army and the Bohai Navy to supply supplies.
Since the Yellow River took the Huaihe River and entered the sea, the land in the two Huaihe River areas was barren and barren, the people were displaced, and agriculture was lacking.
Among them, in the 24th year of Hongwu, the Yellow River broke through the Heiyang Mountain in Yangwu and divided into two parts. The south branch went away from Fengcheng and went southeast to seize the Ying River. It entered the Huaihe River from Fuyang. The north branch flowed northeast and merged into the Daqing River in Dongping. , go to Jinan and enter the sea.
This operation of the Yellow River once again destroyed the Jianghuai agriculture that Zhu Yuanzhang had finally recovered. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang expended great efforts to fill in the northern branch, so that the entire branch of the Yellow River could use the Ying River to seize the Huai River and enter the sea.
As for what later generations said, Zhu Yuanzhang did not allow the Yellow River to flow north because of the issue of the ancestral mausoleum, that is just a rumor.
Fengyang Imperial Tomb, Zuling Mausoleum, and Zhongdu are all on the banks of the Huaihe River. If he really didn't want anything to happen here, then Zhu Yuanzhang should try his best to prevent the Yellow River from taking over the Huaihe River.
The reason why he could not tolerate the northward flow of the Yellow River was precisely because of the lessons learned from the Northern Song Dynasty's Three Changes of Return to the River, which led to the erosion of Hebei.
If the south flow of the Yellow River is really cut off and the entire north direction flows into the sea, then the Yellow River will easily turn Shandong, southern Hebei, and northern Henan into a yellow flood zone when it floods again, leaving Peiping alone.
If Mongolia takes the opportunity to counterattack, Peiping and Daning will be facing the enemy but they will fight with their backs to the water, and they will not be able to supply supplies.
Only nine years have passed since the 24th year of Hongwu, and the agriculture in the Huaihe River area has not yet recovered from the last flood. Therefore, Li Jinglong's 200,000 troops occupied almost all the reserves in the canal water warehouse.
Faced with the supplies of 70,000 Ming troops in Yangzhou and Zhaobo Town, the Jianwen court could only continuously transport supplies northward from the south of the Yangtze River.
This approach further aggravated the soaring prices in Jiangnan, and Zhu Yunwen had no choice but to continue to issue treasure notes to maintain the military pay of the army.
"Mom, it's treasure money again!"
At Chaoyang Gate of Yingtian Mansion, when the latest month's military pay was distributed in the form of treasure notes, the soldiers stationed here immediately complained.
"Li Qianhu, the imperial court has been issuing treasure banknotes for two months. Now these treasure banknotes can't even buy seventy kilograms of rice. When will we be reduced to the point where we can't even garrison troops?"
In the corridor of Chaoyang Gate, several soldiers in their early twenties asked Li Zhong, who was wearing Qianhu official armor. Li Zhong also wiped the sweat from his forehead after hearing this:
"You guys think I want treasure notes. Every time I ask the Governor's Office to send food and money, but the Governor's Office says that there is a shortage of war supplies in the north and only treasure notes are given to us."
He explained to the brothers around him, but when the soldiers heard this, they just cursed: "You work hard for a month, and you don't even get a pound of rice as military pay, and you have to borrow money to live."
"These civil servants give themselves tax reductions and exemptions, but they use their money to fool us. Damn it!"
"We are pretty good. I heard that even the pensions given to brothers from the Yangtze River Navy and the Pinghe Japanese Navy are treasure notes."
"Mom, are you so wicked?"
Zhu Yunwen's behavior of issuing treasure banknotes made the Yingtian garrison very dissatisfied. They did not pay attention to any difficulties in the court. They only knew that if they continued like this, their family would not be able to open the door.
"Perform patrols well." Li Zhong could only sigh helplessly after hearing what his brothers said.
However, not long after he comforted his brothers, another Qianhu official came to Chaoyang Gate with a dozen brothers.
"Li Zhong! Did you take copper coins or treasure notes today?"
When a familiar voice sounded, Li Zhong turned around and saw Zhang Guang, who was also a Qianhu official.
"Of course it's a treasure, and the brothers below have complained a lot."
Li Zhong sighed, and Zhang Guang also cursed when he heard this: "Mother, I was at Dinghuai Gate just now and watched thirty ships full of copper coins coming from the southwest. The court clearly has copper coins, but they still give us treasure notes."
"Did you see it wrong?" Li Zhong was stunned: "Didn't you say there was a rebellion in the southwest?"
"That's just one rebellion, not everywhere." Zhang Guang cursed:
"I think this time it was the civil servants who were reluctant to give us copper coins, so they used treasure notes to deal with us."
"I heard that many people have gone to the Governor's Mansion to inquire. I am here to ask you if you are going?"
"Go!" Li Zhong did not hesitate. If the imperial court really had copper coins and refused to give them to them, then he would naturally go and make a fuss.
"Let's go!" Zhang Guang waved his hand and immediately led Li Zhong towards the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion.
Situations like this are constantly happening at various city gates in the capital. At the same time, Xu Zengshou, who serves as the Left Governor of the Right Army Governor's Mansion, has also become the person to be held accountable.
In just one morning, he received no less than thirty military attachés at the Duke of Wei's Mansion.
After finally appeasing everyone, before Xu Zengshou had time to rest, he heard that someone from the past was looking for him.
"Let him in."
Xu Zengshou wiped the sweat from his forehead, thinking that it was the military attachés who came to ask about their salary, but he did not expect that the person coming was someone he was not familiar with.
"Who are you……"
Xu Zengshou frowned and looked at the person in front of him. Hearing this, the person smiled and bowed: "Hu Lun, the official of Qianhu in the Yangzhou Prefecture of Jin Yiwei, has been ordered by my master to deliver a message to Governor Zuo."
Hu Lun bowed in return and took out a letter.
However, when handing over the letter, he reminded Xu Zengshou: "Captain Zuo, it is best to burn the letter after reading the contents."
"..." Listening to what Hu Lun said, Xu Zengshou frowned slightly, took the letter and opened it. After reading the contents of the letter at a glance, he immediately closed the letter.
"What else did your master say?"
Xu Zengshou's eyes were solemn, and Hu Lun also smiled and said: "My master said that he hopes that Governor Zuo will take good care of himself and not contact the generals in the north again in the near future. It is enough to just follow the instructions in the letter."
Xu Zengshou frowned slightly. The letter sent by Hu Lun was undoubtedly Zhu Gaoxu's personal letter.
In his heart, Zhu Gaoxu wrote in his own hand that the capital city would be captured in these few days, so Zhu Gaoxu hoped that he would not continue to write letters to Zhu Di to avoid being caught, but would quietly wait for his troops to arrive in the capital city.
Xu Zengshou was not surprised that Zhu Gaoxu knew about the letter between him and Zhu Di. The only thing he was curious about was how Zhu Gaoxu planned to cross the Yangtze River.
The natural dangers of the Yangtze River are not simply nice to hear. If there were no navy...
Xu Zengshou was suddenly stunned because he thought of the silent war of words in the Yangtze River in recent days.
"Is it possible that Gao Xu surrendered Chen Xuan and Yang Qiu?"
Xu Zengshou was not stupid. He also heard about Chen Xuan's impeachment and even defended Chen Xuan.
In addition, Yang Qiu was originally recommended by Zhu Gaoxu to command the Pingwa Navy. It is not impossible for Zhu Gaoxu to recruit and surrender the two men.
If this letter came from someone else, Xu Zengshou might not believe it, but if it came from Zhu Gaoxu, he couldn't help but not believe it.
"I understand the matter. Tell your master that I will personally rule the Shence Sect and Jinchuan Sect."
Xu Zengshou was in the house, so he was not afraid of the news leaking. Hu Lun bowed after hearing this: "I will resign from my humble post."
"Well..." Xu Zengshou watched Hu Lun leave with his own eyes and burned the letters in his hands after he left.
Just looking at the burning letter, Xu Zengshou suddenly thought of his brother-in-law.
"This father and son may be in trouble..."
I'm not feeling well yet, I still have a fever, but I'm much better after taking a fever-reducing injection, but my thoughts are a little slow and I can't type quickly.
Today's second update is expected to be successfully updated around 5 p.m.
(End of chapter)
