Chapter 368 The storm is turbulent and the country is shaken
Since ancient times, there has been a rule for emperors to ascend the throne. Whether they are legitimate or rebel, there will be a drama of three invitations and three resignations. Obviously, Pu Xiang and Yang Can are Chen Cao's knives, so they are in Chen Cao's hands. After refusing, he chose to stage the drama of asking for the throne again three days later;
Unsurprisingly, he was still rejected by Chen Cao. The reason was very simple: I am the Prince of the Ming Dynasty, and I am on the throne. How can I bring trouble to the imperial court...
If Chen Cao recognized the shamelessness of being second, no one in the entire Ming Dynasty would dare to recognize first.
I don’t know why, but just as many interested people were preparing to watch Chen Cao’s third resignation scene, surprisingly, Pu Xiang and Yang Can, who were originally taking the lead, actually stopped moving. Why is this?
"Actually, the prince can directly ascend the throne and don't have to worry about those things. Now most of Southern Zhili is in our hands. As long as our Liang Fan is willing, our Liang Fan's war flag can be planted all over the southwest."
Xu Fuyuan nodded with satisfaction. He believed that his talents were not inferior to Huang Chunyao, so he took advantage of Huang Chunyao's absence to work hard to express himself.
Chen Cao was very satisfied with being fucked by a beautiful palace maid before. At this moment, he breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head: "It's still early. If I become emperor and stimulate Zhu Youjian, he may do something wrong." When it comes to the great cause of our ancestors, as far as I know, he is an emperor who cares about face."
The reason why Chen Cao is so confident is because he has already secretly ordered Zou Weilian and Chen Yan to act in the north. The status of these two people has now risen. Zou Weilian has become a cabinet minister from the general affairs envoy. Although he is the last one, he has many qualities. He also held the post of general affairs envoy. As for Chen Yan, he had now become the left deputy imperial envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Gao Panlong had plans to train him as his successor.
"If news from the north does not come, I will not take the next step."
...
Chen Cao did not receive officials and gentry in Nanjing. After the support from Shanghai arrived in Nanjing, the originally depressed Nanjing city gradually regained its vitality, especially the Qin Tower and Chu Pavilion on both sides of the Qinhuai River.
On the ninth day after entering Nanjing, Long Wujun sent a battle report, together with Zhao Xin, who brought the latest news.
"The Longwu Army invaded Dasheng Pass on the previous day and killed 30,000 enemies. The Qin Army, under the command of Yang Qi, fled northward. Countless people fell into the water, and no baggage was captured.
In addition, according to reliable information, Yang He, the governor of the five provinces, was escorted back to Beijing by people from Dongchang. Before Yang He left, he ordered Yang Qi to temporarily take charge of the military affairs. However, according to the news from Old Tang, there were many people in the Qin army who were dissatisfied with Yang Qi. , especially headed by Gao Yingxiang, a member of the official army anyway. "
Chen Cao raised his eyebrows: "Gao Yingxiang?"
Zhao Xin nodded: "Yes, Wang Jiayin and Wang Ziyong died in Nanjing one after another, and their refugee army was led by Gao Yingxiang. But for some reason, when the battle at Dasheng Pass began, Gao Yingxiang's troops began to flee crazily, so that Gao Yingxiang couldn't hold his position, and Yang Qi suffered a heavy loss in the city. Once the sergeant ran away, the morale of the army was completely lost, and the battle could not continue."
"Where is Zhu Yujian?"
Zhao Xin was about to report the matter: "But the prince was right. Zhu Yujian had no intention of escaping back to Nanyang. His army suffered few casualties. After gathering many defeated soldiers, the army's strength did not decrease but increased. According to the investigation, the brothers came back Report, the Tang army under Zhu Yujian’s banner has increased to about 100,000, and now they are all gathered in Dangtu City."
"He has a very powerful counselor under his command?"
Chen Cao asked with a frown.
"I heard it was called Li Yan, but according to the investigation of the Jinyiwei brothers, this Li Yan's original name was Li Xin, and he was a scholar. It was this person who planned Zhu Yujian's several invasions of Nanjing."
hiss...
Li Yan and Chen Cao knew that such a famous person in the Chuang Army was a real talent under Li Zicheng. It was a pity that Li Zicheng didn't know how to employ people, otherwise it would be a question mark whether the Manchus could invade the pass.
"The Longwu Army has become exhausted after fighting one after another," Chen Cao touched his bare chin and murmured: "Hong Chengchou's Shence Army was stationed in the southeastern coastal provinces and could not be spared. The Dingwu Army dispersed from South Zhili to Along the Songjiang River, the only ones that can be mobilized right now are the Shenwu Army."
Chen Cao seemed to have come to his senses and looked up at Xin Zhao: "How is Shi Xiu?"
"He is not bad. If the battle at Yuhuatai had not been so fierce, he might not have been able to rest for four days. He is still recuperating at home these days. However, Lao Song insisted on leading the troops and was worried that he would be abandoned by you, the prince."
Chen Cao smiled helplessly. With his status as Song Che and himself, do they still need to engage in such tricks? The two of them are replicas of the typical Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da.
"Send someone to send some precious medicinal materials to him so that he can take good care of his health. There will be a lot of fighting. In addition, someone is immediately sent to notify Huang Chunyao and order all the Shenwu Army units to come to Nanjing to assemble. Also, order Songjiang to issue a recruitment order and recruit ten more divisions. of full troops.”
"Yes... By the way, Your Majesty, what should we do with Ding Wenqing who presented the city in Yangzhou?"
Chen Cao then remembered the man his brother-in-law Weng Linzhi had sent to suppress him: "How is this man?"
Zhao Xin had already prepared: "Ding Wenqing turned out to be one of the thousand households under Zhang Gaoping's command, and he was Zhang Gaoping's right-hand man at the same time as Li Mingyuan. After Zhang Gaoping's death, Li Mingyuan was responsible for escorting people back. Ding Wenqing seemed to have seen through the situation, so he volunteered There are tens of thousands of soldiers in Yangzhou City;
This person was defeated by Du Wenhuan. In terms of qualifications, he is neither high nor low, neither above nor below. "
Chen Cao nodded silently, and then said: "It can be used. In this case, send someone to tell Weng Linzhi, and order all Ding Wenqing's troops to go south to Songjiang for training. He will transfer Ding Wenqing to be the commander of the 61st Recruit Division, and the rest of his troops will be dispersed." Reorganize.”
"yes..."
"What happened to the Northern Army?"
"Zhu Chunchen may not be willing to give in, but according to reports from spies from the Northern Army, hundreds of thousands of defeated Northern Army troops have now returned to Gaoyou to garrison."
"Um..."
...
Ding Wenqing was sent away by Weng Linzhi himself, accompanied by a regiment of troops escorting him south. These tens of thousands of people had no weapons. Their goal was the recruit training ground in Qingpu, and what awaited them was a three-month devil's training.
There are now five reorganized divisions in Yangzhou, namely the 51st Division Kang Led's Division, the 53rd Division Pang Zhihuan's Division, the 54th Division Qi Xianyun's Division, the 55th Division Weng Linzhi's Division, and the 56th Division Cao Bianjiao's Division that was reinforced later.
Cao Wenzhao's uncle and nephew have been training at Huangpu Military Academy since they returned to Songjiang with Chen Cao from Liaodong. After the training, they went to the recruit training base in Qingpu to continue their studies for half a year. At the end of last year, the uncle and nephew were respectively appointed as Dingwu commanders. Commander of the 10th Army Division and Cao Bianjiao's current 56th Division.
The temporary commander of the five Yangzhou divisions is Weng Linzhi. Several division commanders know that his sister is the prince's woman. Moreover, the Weng family dominates the Cao Gang and once led the Cao Gang to rebel under Chen Cao's instruction. The identity is naturally unusual.
Although he did not become a division commander in any of the five armies, it is said that he was awarded the position of commander of a new division just to avoid suspicion.
In the Liangfan army, except for the five official armies that have commanders, when the remaining divisions gather to fight, they often temporarily set up a general commander as the frontline commander, who is called the 'commander-in-chief'.
"Commander Kang and Commander Cao are temporary reinforcements and are not very familiar with the situation in Yangzhou. I won't go into details here. According to the prince's instructions, our army will capture Shaobo Town in five days;
According to reports from spies, there are 30,000 Northern troops stationed in Shaobo Town, and Shaobo Town is the outpost for the attack on Yangzhou and our army's attack on Gaoyou, so it must be captured. "
Several people are a little fiery, but Weng Linzhi is the commander-in-chief, so you have to listen to him on how to arrange things.
Weng Linzhi also saw their appearance and said: "Our army is all new divisions. This battle will be led by Division Commander Cao."
Cao Bianjiao, the youngest, immediately smiled and raised his hands towards the remaining three people: "Brothers, I will not be disrespectful to you. Brothers, please wait for the good news from me."
The remaining troops in Shaobo Town were only 30,000 people. There was not a single nobleman left behind, and only one general soldier of the Beijing camp was left behind. After Cao Bianjiao arrived at Shaobo Town with his army, they bombarded them indiscriminately and personally led the charge. He rode his horse into Shao Bo Town.
The Northern Army was in chaos. Zhu Chunchen's vomiting of blood was originally a big deal. The morale of the Northern Army had long been unstable. Moreover, after two years of fighting abroad, the soldiers' desire to fight dropped sharply and their desire to return home increased sharply. The general soldiers who stayed behind simply took the lead. Escape also left a huge credit to Cao Bianjiao.
...
"In the battle of Shaobo Town, Cao Bianjiao captured more than 20,000 Northern troops alive, killed more than 4,000 in formation, and participated in the battle of 17 generals at all levels below. He was very brave."
Chen Cao looked at the document in his hand that Weng Linzhi had brought from Yangzhou by Jinyiwei to report victory to Cao Bianjiao, and then looked up at Zhao Xin who had sent the information: "It seems that Gaoyou will not be broken soon."
Zhao Xin cupped his hands and smiled: "There are rumors inside Yangzhou that Cao Bianjiao fought with the temperament of a Liaodong horse bandit. His men fired a volley of muskets, and then started hand-to-hand combat, which was even more fierce than Xiao Yongguang's 21st Division. , and this boy was the first to rush into Shao Bo Town on horseback."
"His uncle is not a good person," Chen Cao borrowed a sentence: "Cao Wenzhao is brave and resourceful, and he is no less generous than You Shiwei."
Speaking of You Shiwei, Chen Cao asked Zhao Xin: "How are the three brothers of the You family?"
"The training at Huangpu Military Academy was completed a few days ago. According to the rules for recruits, they have to go to the training ground in Qingpu to join the army. However, the three of them said they have to go to the Military Academy to study for another month."
Chen Cao nodded thoughtfully: "The three brothers will be transferred to the new division as division commanders first. As for the division, we will talk about it later, but it is a bit unrealistic for them to fight against the Northern Army now. After all, they are the original masters."
"By the way, Your Majesty, this is the legion restructuring plan sent by Xia Yunyi..."
"Um..."
Chen Cao took a closer look and saw that Xia Yunyi had made changes and detailed arrangements to the group army plan he proposed. He couldn't help but sigh that this man made the right choice to go into logistics.
