"The capital...is besieged?"
In the early morning of April 14th, Pan Shuai's tent was in the Baigou Henan military camp.
When Li Jinglong repeated these words in a daze, he felt confused and couldn't tell whether he was in a dream or reality.
"impossible!"
He snatched the letter from Wu Jie who came to deliver it, and scanned all the contents on the small note in disbelief.
Unfortunately, Wu Jie was not wrong, and the news was indeed true.
"Why did the navy just... surrender?"
Li Jinglong leaned on the chair, his mind went blank, and he could not calm down for a long time.
Faced with his performance, Anlu Hou Wu Jie also said anxiously: "We... they... really don't know how the imperial court treated them, but they were able to force the navy to the Bohai Sea!"
It was settled before Wu Jie cursed. Since ancient times, there has been no operation of the North attacking the South and the Southern Navy surrendering.
Even if there is, it is only a small group of naval forces. How can such a group of naval forces surrender?
"The situation in the capital, without the navy, I'm afraid I won't be able to defend it for even a month..."
After Li Jinglong came to his senses, he immediately began to analyze based on the intelligence he had obtained previously.
The time he analyzed was much shorter than Zhu Yunwen and the others thought. After all, he probably knew the power of the Bohai Navy's artillery. If even Yunti Pass could be destroyed, then the capital's outer city would definitely not be able to withstand it.
The outer city is more than a hundred miles long. Even if 400 people are placed in each mile, 40,000 people will be needed to go around it.
Once the Bohai Navy attacks a certain place, it is impossible for these 40,000 people to gather in formation to defend against the enemy in a short period of time.
Li Jinglong did not regard the so-called 100,000 local warriors and soldiers from the Five Cities Army and Horse Division as warriors who could fight.
Although there was a lot of armor in the capital's treasury, the untrained peasant boys suddenly put on armor and went to the city to fight. They might have collapsed from exhaustion before they could fight Bohai's soldiers.
As for the so-called retreat to the inner city, Li Jinglong felt desperate after hearing this.
The inner city, also known as the capital city, is fifty-eight miles long, with a height ranging from seven to nine feet, and a width ranging from two to ten feet. There are more than 13,600 crenels on the horse paths alone, and more than 200 huts. There are thirteen city gates and two water gates...
If you want to garrison the inner city well, you need at least 50,000 elites, but now the capital doesn't have any, so we can only continue to use Xiangyong.
If you want to use Xiangyong, you have to protect their families and at least 300,000 people.
If these 300,000 people retreated to the capital, they would have enough food, but where would the firewood come from?
In the past, the capital's firewood could only be met by river firewood from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Now that the waterway has been cut off, it will take only a few days to demolish the houses and knock down the walls, and it will take less than a month to tear the capital to ashes.
Yesterday’s Shenyang is today’s capital.
"Right now, you and I are in a dilemma..."
Li Jinglong glanced at Wu Jie with a complicated expression, and Wu Jie slowly lowered his head.
Li Jinglong is very familiar with what kind of person Wu Jie is. He is not very capable but is greedy for life and afraid of death. Therefore, facing such a situation, I am afraid that he has already had the idea of retreating in his heart.
"We can only wait and see what happens." Li Jinglong turned his head. He was not sure what to do now, but if he was asked to mobilize his troops back to the capital as ordered, he would definitely be chased by Zhu Di's 60,000 to 70,000 cavalry and infantry. Broken leg.
If the capital city can hold on, he will find an opportunity to lead the army to retreat step by step. If the capital city cannot hold on, then all he can do is...
Li Jinglong was too embarrassed to continue thinking about it, perhaps because he felt that he had failed the late emperor's instructions.
It's just that Zhu Gaoxu's style of play, let alone him here, even if he pulled the late emperor up, he would be stunned when he saw this style of play.
"Your Majesty, Jiujiang is incompetent..."
Li Jinglong could only sigh secretly, and then asked Wu Jie to comfort the generals, explaining that the reason why the formation was stationary was for the sake of the generals' families in Beijing.
It has to be said that there are still people who want to take advantage of his situation, and gradually some people began to support him, but I don't know whether they are really selling for their family or to wait for a price.
In any case, Li Jinglong ultimately did not lead the 200,000 troops southward according to Zhu Yunwen's instructions, but chose to continue to wait and see at Baigou River.
It was also while he was waiting and watching that Zhu Di finally got the news with Dengzhou's Yishi Ha Yi carrier pigeon because of Zhu Gaoxu's permission.
Yishiha did not disclose what Zhu Gaoxu told him. He just briefly mentioned that Zhu Gaoxu and Sheng Yong were confronting Yangzhou. He asked Zhu Di not to rush to war with Li Jinglong, as things would soon turn around.
Yi Shiha hid something from Zhu Di, but this was Zhu Gaoxu's order.
However, Yao Guangxiao still saw the clues to his move.
Sitting in the Zhuozhou Yamen, Yao Guangxiao looked at the three small articles of faith in his hand, and after pondering them over and over again, he put them on the table beside him.
There were only two people in this yamen, Zhu Di and Yao Guangxiao, so after Yao Guangxiao put down the note, Zhu Di said anxiously: "Old monk, how are you?"
"Lao Er, how is the war going? I'm afraid it's more than just a simple confrontation with Yangzhou. You see, Li Jiujiang has been silent for several days."
Zhu Di was not stupid, and his political vision was not short-sighted, let alone his military ideas.
He had already read the creed sent by Yishiha, but to him, the contents were not in line with the situation at hand.
If the second son of his family still insists on Sheng Yong in Yangzhou, then why is there no movement from Li Jinglong?
The quieter the moment, the more important it is that something big has happened.
Zhu Di felt itchy when he thought of this.
He was not surprised that Zhu Gaoxu's style of play could produce miraculous effects, but he did not expect such an effect.
The information from the south must have been concealed, otherwise he would not have found the current situation strange.
Thinking of this, he continued to look at Yao Guangxiao eagerly. Yao Guangxiao also counted the beads and frowned:
"Since His Majesty abolished Buddhism, many messages about the poor monk have been lost. They can only be conveyed by the fourth young master. But now that the fourth young master has not sent any news for many days, the poor monk is really worried..."
Yao Guangxiao's intelligence network mainly relies on two things, the first is the monks in the temple, and the other is Xu Zengshou.
After all, Xu Zengshou is the left governor of the rear army governor's mansion, so the information he has access to is naturally more authentic.
However, since Xu Zengshou stopped the news a few days ago, they have completely smeared Jiangnan. What is happening in Jiangnan can only be broken down frame by frame through some information revealed by Zhu Gaoxu.
Zhu Gaoxu was on guard against Yan Mansion, and even rough guys like Qiu Fu and Tan Yuan could see this, not to mention Zhu Di and Yao Guangxiao.
Everyone knew where Zhu Gaoxu's defense came from, but for Yao Guangxiao, he couldn't control the reserve, and he didn't want to. He just wanted to analyze the progress of the matter through Zhu Gaoxu's attitude.
"It seems right now that His Highness is probably not far away from success..."
Yao Guangxiao spoke slowly, but the answer made Zhu Di's mouth go dry.
"Old monk, what do you mean?" Zhu Di had already thought about it, but still couldn't believe it.
"Your Highness, you should know better." Yao Guangxiao looked at Zhu Di and then said:
"The closer His Highness is to success, the more cautious he must be. After all, he has not figured out your thoughts yet."
"So before meeting you, he must ensure that he can maintain his advantage after meeting you, so as to accomplish what he wants to accomplish."
Yao Guangxiao calculated the beads in his hand and said while calculating: "Whether he wants that chair or another chair, he must be able to fight against you."
"I won't hurt him!" When Zhu Di heard this, he immediately became anxious, stood up and spread his hands, showing off his kindness.
Yao Guangxiao knew Zhu Di's temper very well. He clearly understood what he meant, but he was unwilling to face the problem head-on.
Fortunately, Yao Guangxiao himself was too lazy to get to the bottom of things, so he continued to talk about the situation.
"The family is not sensitive to the news about Jiangnan. I'm afraid it's because of His Highness's care."
"Only if the government is not sensitive to the news in Jiangnan, His Highness can better handle various matters after taking over the capital."
"Not to mention the distance, just say that Li Jinglong has more than 200,000 troops nearby. This is a considerable force."
When Yao Guangxiao said this, Zhu Di finally understood.
It was useless to co-operate with his own intelligence, because it was destroyed by his second son. The reason why his second son did this was because he was worried that after he captured the capital, he would be the first to receive Li Jinglong's army of more than 200,000.
"Little bastard!"
Zhu Di walked back and forth angrily. Yao Guangxiao saw this but did not panic. He said to himself: "It seems that His Highness is already confident about winning the capital."
"I don't care about that, I just want to know if this little bastard wants me to be the emperor!" Zhu Di shouted as he walked.
It's definitely a lie if he says he doesn't want to be the emperor. Whenever he has the chance, he would like to have fun.
The problem now is that he is not sure what Zhu Gaoxu's attitude will be. After all, Zhu Gaoxu really has the ability to make him the emperor.
"From the humble monk's point of view, it probably won't be..." Yao Guangxiao spoke vaguely and continued slowly:
"Even if His Highness takes the capital and recruits more than 400,000 troops including Li Jinglong, Wu Gao, Li Jian, Sheng Yong, etc., how long will it take for him to fully absorb all these troops?"
"Furthermore, except for King Ning, King Liao, and King Gu who have had a close relationship with His Highness, the other vassal kings are only King Qin and King Jin who are familiar with His Highness."
"To appease the place, we need the efforts of the vassal kings. This requires prestige, and only Your Highness, the leader of the vassals, is the most suitable to do it."
"Furthermore, Your Highness, you have a good relationship with Song Sheng and Muchun. If you succeed to the throne, it will be much easier to recruit them."
"In addition, the poor monk sees that His Highness has a temperament and age that is not willing to be trapped in the palace. I am afraid that ascending the throne early may not be in line with his ideas."
Yao Guangxiao told Zhu Di three things, but Zhu Di felt that except for the first one, which was more reliable, the others were not very reliable, especially the third one.
It is only when you are young and energetic that you want to climb up the ladder. How can anyone be willing to give up their position?
"I don't think the third one is credible."
Zhu Di only rejected the third item, but Yao Guangxiao shook his head after hearing this: "The third item is the most credible, because even if you sit down in that position, you will have to give it to him in the future..."
"..." Zhu Di was speechless. If Yao Guangxiao wanted to say this, he really couldn't refute it.
But if this is really the case, he might as well become the Supreme Emperor from the beginning.
"He still wants to puppet his father?"
When Zhu Di spoke a word, he was as steady as Yao Guangxiao. He paused and calculated the beads in his hand, took a deep breath before calming down, and continued:
"For more details, Your Highness will have to have a long discussion with His Highness. As for other matters, it is inconvenient for me to continue speculating."
"It's just that His Highness's talent is indeed far beyond that of the world. Your Highness, you need to think carefully about it."
After Yao Guangxiao finished speaking, he stood up and saluted Zhu Di, then turned and left.
Looking at his leaving figure, Zhu Di scratched his beard: "You want to treat me as a puppet?"
Zhu Di couldn't help but think of Zhu Gaoxu's figure. When he thought of the scene of Zhu Gaoxu turning over the wild horse, he felt a little guilty.
Judging from his son's face, he didn't want to be a puppet emperor.
It's just that he is not willing to be just a Supreme Emperor.
Thinking about it this way, it’s really hard to make a choice...
Zhu Di firmly grasped his thick beard and walked to the backyard of the Yamen with his hands behind his back. After a while, he could only hear sighs coming from the corridor.
In just one day and night, the entire Ming Dynasty's political landscape began to undergo turmoil, and it would turn over and start again if not careful. This situation was really unexpected.
Perhaps in Zhu Yunwen's opinion, the chessboard could still be stable, but for Zhu Gaoxu, the chessboard should be turned over.
"Crash..."
"boom!"
"Beep--"
"Zhaozhou left guard, get on the boat!"
At the ferry on the south bank of Wanshou Town, when warships docked, teams of ready horse infantry led their horses onto the decks of the warships.
To the south, more than thirty warships were divided into two teams, one south of the sandbar and one north of the sandbar.
The warships north of the sandbank were responsible for transporting people from the Wanshou Town ferry to the center of the Yangtze River. They dropped them off on a large sandbank ten miles away from the ferry, and then the horse and infantrymen crossed the sandbank more than ten miles wide from north to south and arrived at the sandbank. A ferry built in the south of the state.
There, another fleet of more than ten warships will transport them to Jiangnan, ten miles away, for landing.
If you follow pure water transport, it will take at least four hours, but after Cui Jun changed it like this, it only takes two hours.
Precisely because of the success of the route design, the Bohai Navy was able to transport 8,000 people to the south bank in one night.
If you include this group of people, it is 10,000 people.
Under such transportation, the Bohai Navy's camp became visibly thin.
"The horse and infantry will leave first. In addition to the artillery battalion, the Shenji Battalion will separate two thousand people to arrange for the next group to cross the river. The rest will stay and wait for the final crossing with the field artillery and siege artillery!"
"yes!!"
Outside the Bohai Navy camp, 20,000 troops were ready to go. Zhu Gaoxu was walking in front of the formation. Although he was walking on muddy ground, he still walked like a tiger.
Wearing pierced armor and bear fur, he looked more than generous.
Just one word can have the power to swallow up Jiangnan.
Faced with his words, the entire army, led by dozens of officials from thousands of households, responded with a momentum that shook both sides of the Yangtze River.
"Your Highness, won't Sheng Yong come out of camp to attack us today?"
Seeing that the Southern Army had not made any move, Chen Chang, who followed Zhu Gaoxu on the camp tour, asked curiously, while Zhu Gaoxu chuckled:
"He is busy cleaning up his own mess and wants to fight me. Let him practice again."
After learning that the capital was under siege, the Bohai Navy's morale became even higher. On the contrary, many bad things happened to the Southern Army, so that today's original plan to delay the Bohai Navy completely went bankrupt.
"Bang!!"
"How come there are so many deserters in one night?!"
In the Nanjun camp outside Yangzhou City, Sheng Yong put his rice bowl on the table and looked at the person in front of him angrily.
If the person standing in front of him was Zhu Gaoxu, he would be very familiar.
Wang Jian, who was once an official of hundreds of households, was finally promoted to a thousand households. However, not long after he was promoted, he encountered the Bohai Navy's southward march to the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, the confrontation with the Bohai Navy in Yangzhou, and the siege of the capital.
Now, something even worse happened. The Jianghuai Southern Army knew yesterday that it would start another war with the Bohai Navy today.
Although the 20,000 elite troops were a little scared, they could still keep their composure, but some of the garrison troops couldn't keep their composure.
Such news, coupled with the deliberate spread of it by thoughtful people, soon triggered a chain reaction.
"Return to the matter..."
Wang Jian is more mature than he was seven years ago, but at the age of thirty-five, he is only an official of a thousand households, so his attitude is very humble, as if he has been polished by life.
"Yesterday there were rumors in the city that our navy had surrendered to the rebels, causing the capital to be besieged and the emperor's life and death unknown. Therefore, many soldiers escaped at night under the leadership of the small flag officer and the chief flag officer. The one with the highest official position was Liu Wu, the Qianhu officer of Dongge Qianhu Office."
"At the end of the day, at least one thousand, six hundred and seventy-two brothers escaped..."
"Find!" Sheng Yong interrupted Wang Jian and said angrily: "Find him and behead him in public!"
"General, take your orders!" Wang Jian's heart tightened and he bowed quickly.
Seeing that Sheng Yong had no other arrangements, Wang Jian asked: "May I ask Qian if he wants to leave the camp today..."
"No... don't come out!" Sheng Yong almost squeezed out these two words through his teeth. Wang Jian understood this and turned around to tell Yu Tongyuan, Ping'an and other officials on the east bank of the canal.
After he left, Sheng Yong sat back on the chair, clenched his fists, and said angrily: "You can use any means!"
Except for people outside the capital, only some people know the news that the capital is being surrounded. Most of these people hope to maintain Zhu Yunwen's rule. The only ones who are dissatisfied are Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di.
Therefore, Sheng Yong wanted to know who did it by spreading news to destroy the morale of the Confederate army.
When this happened, let alone the unavailability of the garrison troops, it was also a question of whether the elite troops could still be used. Their entire family was in the capital.
"Asshole!!"
After scolding, Sheng Yong only hated that he couldn't let go and fight Zhu Gaoxu head-on, but he didn't want to think about it. The art of war is not limited to grand formations.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were the best number to test Zhengqi's methods, but he just couldn't do it himself.
His powerlessness added a bit of laughter to Zhu Gaoxu's battle across the river.
At the same time, the capital city more than a hundred miles away was also wailing and cursing, with various voices coming in an endless stream.
All men over the age of fifteen in the city were forcibly recruited to join the army. Considering their physical fitness, most of them only had a thin breastplate, a long spear, and a waist knife.
Fortunately, those who could live in Beijing were all relatives of the military attachés, so there were still many people who could master one or two weapons proficiently. In addition, during the Hongwu period, archery was a required category in the imperial examination, so archers did not have to worry.
"I don't know how many local warriors have been recruited?"
"The book was just counted at noon. It is said that there are more than 64,000 people. It is estimated that half of the men in the capital have been drafted."
At the Qilin Gate, Xu Yingxu, who was wearing armor, glanced at the group of young people who came to the Qilin Gate to change defenses.
Looking at their low morale, they didn't think they could play any role in the war.
He could see it, and Xu Zengshou next to him could naturally see it, but Xu Zengshou was completely happy to see this situation, and he would not think of any way to train these military attachés.
Compared to him, Guo Ying was willing to train, but was restricted by Zhu Yunwen. In addition, he was a little melancholy due to Meng Zhang's words yesterday, so he did not come out of the arrow tower where he was resting today.
When the time comes, they all know in their hearts that Zhu Gaoxu will most likely not agree to the peace negotiation. What they are doing is most likely to delay time, and the same is true for their own side.
Sure enough, from noon to dusk, until Guo Ying walked out of the arrow tower, the Bohai Navy had no intention of sending a messenger or explaining.
As the sky grew dark, Guo Ying could only send someone to spread the news of the impossibility of peace talks in the Bohai Sea to the inner city.
Although this news came very late, Zhu Yunwen had been waiting.
But when he saw that Meng Zhang didn't make any move and Zhu Gaoxu didn't appear outside the capital, he still couldn't help feeling desperate.
"I clearly have hundreds of thousands of troops, how did I end up in this situation?!"
Zhu Yunwen asked sadly that in the dark palace, none of the civil servants who usually flattered them were seen. Even the palace maids and eunuchs had disappeared. Only a few familiar eunuchs from the East Palace, Li Quan, remained.
"Your Majesty, you..."
Li Quan wanted to step forward to persuade Zhu Yunwen, but he didn't know how to persuade him, so in the end he could only stand where he was.
Seeing him hesitant to speak, Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but laugh at himself, and staggered out of Wuying Palace.
Li Quan followed him closely and escorted him back to Qianqing Palace in a short time.
Perhaps only with Queen Ma, he could find a moment of peace.
But although he wanted peace, Zhu Gaoxu would not give it to him.
As Zhu Gaoxu said, his good brother can only sleep peacefully if he is dead.
Although the road was muddy after the rainy season, for the Bohai Horse Infantrymen who crossed the Yangtze River, a mere eighty miles was nothing.
On this day, groups of horse and infantrymen crossed the river and headed for the capital.
Seeing the increasing number of soldiers and horses in the Bohai Sea, Zhenjiang officials simply opened the city to surrender, opened the Zhenjiang Water Pass, and released many boats.
This operation accelerated the Bohai Navy's progress across the river.
Throughout the night, the tens of thousands of defenders in Waiguo City witnessed with their own eyes one stream of fire after another appearing outside the city and then extinguishing.
It was not until dawn, when the Yangtze River mist dissipated, that they discovered that the Bohai navy surrounding the city had increased from three to five hundred yesterday to two to three thousand.
Such changes added to the depression of the guards at various city gates, and their morale almost fell to the bottom.
On the third day of the siege of Nanjing, the price of river firewood in the city soared, reaching 400 wen per load, almost five times the normal price.
Despite this, the supply of river firewood in the city still exceeds the demand. A large number of civilians with no background and money can only chop up stools to make firewood in order to have a hot meal.
This is true for river firewood, not to mention other food and clothing expenses.
Many Changpingcang and Shecang in the outer city were originally used by Zhu Yuanzhang to provide timely disaster relief, but now they are being loaded into trucks and transported to the inner city under the command of the Six Ministries and Five Governments.
Obviously, people are more self-interested, and many of them have not considered the life and death of the people in the outer city.
Of course, some people can see this, but the current situation is like this. Anyone with a clear mind knows that it is only a matter of time before the King of Bohai County enters the capital.
Unless Sheng Yong, Yu Tongyuan and others in the north of the Yangtze River dare to use Yangzhou's horse boats to transport troops and cross the river against the shells of the Bohai Navy, there will not be any reinforcements in the capital in a short time.
The fall of the capital is only a matter of time...
"Records of Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In Renxu, the Bohai River followed the king across the river to surround the capital. The world was shocked and the emperor was very happy."
"Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In Renxu, the superior led his troops across the river. Yong wanted to attack, which was recognized by the superior, so he dispersed the capital. When the southern army heard that the capital was besieged, there were many people fleeing, and Yong could not control it, so they defended themselves. .”
(End of chapter)
