Ma Hongxing told Zhou Zhi about the incident after the battle, letting Zhou Zhi know that there was a new force of the Song Army resisting in the Chizhou area.
Its chief general Li Xianzhong is good at commanding and has strong abilities. The training level of his troops is obviously much higher than that of other Song armies. They are quite powerful and tenacious. Whether they need to be annihilated with all their strength.
Zhou Zhi learned about this matter, spent some time thinking about it, and then replied to Ma Hongxing, asking him not to continue.
The Song Dynasty has signed an armistice agreement, agreed to the four conditions of the Ming Dynasty, and became a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. The war is over, so there should be no more wars. From now on, it is preparing to retreat to Yangzhou in the Huainan area to garrison.
Unless the Song general takes the initiative to attack Jiankang Mansion again, there is nothing to say. Kill him. But if he does not attack again, then the Ming army should not take the initiative to attack.
There will be more opportunities in the future, but the most important thing now is to retreat.
Of course, if there are any good things in Jiangning City, remember to take them with you. Take everything you can, and don't save money for the upper class people of Song Dynasty.
After receiving Zhou Zhi's order, Ma Hongxing felt depressed because he could not personally annihilate Li Xianzhong, but he was also excited that Ming Dynasty successfully achieved all strategic goals.
So he looked towards Chizhou for a while, wrote down Li Xianzhong's name, and swore that when the army crossed the river to destroy the Song Dynasty in the future, he would personally defeat Li Xianzhong and chop off his head.
Since his attack on the Southern Song Dynasty, he had achieved complete victory. Only this victory was not so complete and even a bit bumpy.
This made him very unhappy.
Li Xianzhong, I remember your name. You are lucky this time, but you will not be so lucky next time!
Then, Ma Hongxing began the retreat under Zhou Zhi's order, arranging the army to take away all the good things in Jiangning City.
For example, all the food, money, various cloth, wood, oil paper, fuel and other important military supplies in the warehouse in Jiangning City were taken away without leaving any behind.
Because there were so many things and so many things to pack, it ended up having to go back and forth three times to be loaded on the navy ship.
When the Ming army that occupied Jiankang Prefecture all retreated to the Huainan area, Zhou Zhi also led the main force of the Southern Expedition Ming Army to Zhenjiang Prefecture and began a full retreat.
Similarly, including Zhenjiang Prefecture, all official military warehouses in the Southern Song Dynasty cities occupied by the Ming army during their southern expedition were emptied by the Ming army.
Although the Ming army maintained discipline on the civilians of the Southern Song Dynasty during the Southern Expedition and did not commit any offences, they were rude to official things and took away everything they could. There is no need to smash it, it will still belong to Ming Dynasty in the future.
Think of it as relieving the burden on your future self.
But Tang Situi looked really hurt.
He felt his heart bleed as he watched the Ming army move box after box of food, cloth, copper coins for military rewards, livestock, wine, ordnance, etc. from the city's warehouses.
This wave of blood loss in the Southern Song Dynasty was serious, and it is not known when the lost wealth will be replenished, but what is certain is that it will be completely impossible within five years.
Just the hundreds of thousands of troops in the Jianghuai War Zone and the Forbidden Army who were destroyed and annihilated by the Ming Army did not know how much effort it would take to rebuild.
Fortunately, the Ming army acted quickly and retreated when they were told. After taking away what they could, they were not sloppy at all.
On May 17, the last Ming army fleet left Jiangnan with the last batch of Ming army military personnel and set foot on the land of Huainan East Road. This ended the southern expedition and the first war between the Ming and Song Dynasties. That's it.
Tang Situi and the accompanying officials of the Southern Song Dynasty carried the emperor's land cession edict to the prefectures on Huainan East Road to convey the land cession order.
All Southern Song officials and officials should leave Huainan East Road within a time limit, regardless of whether they are locals or not. No Southern Song officials are allowed within the scope of Huainan East Road.
Tang Si felt strange about this.
In the past, when land was ceded and people were expelled, officials were caught and expelled, rarely affecting officials, because most of the officials were locals, and it was quite inconvenient to rule without them.
However, the Ming Dynasty stated that even the officials would be expelled. I don’t know what they thought, or did they have enough manpower to take up local positions?
Although it is strange, these matters have little to do with Tang Sidui. He can't control it, and he doesn't want to control it. It is naturally the Ming army's responsibility to resolve such matters themselves, and those who are willing to leave or unwilling to leave must be driven away by the Ming army.
With the arrival of the land cession edict and the Ming army garrison, the state capitals on Huainan East Road gradually came under the administrative structure of the Ming Dynasty. Eight places including Chuzhou, Gaoyoujun, Taizhou, Tongzhou, Xuyijun, Yangzhou, Chuzhou and Zhenzhou successively joined. There was nothing Unexpected circumstances happen.
If there was any surprise, it would probably be that the Song army defenders in Yangzhou City felt extremely painful and incomprehensible when faced with the emperor's edict to cede territory.
"My ministers are still fighting to the death, why would Your Majesty surrender first? It won't be too late to surrender after all my ministers are killed in the battle!!!!"
Wang Fang, who had been holding on to Yangzhou since Liu Qi's death and refused to surrender, was in great pain. He knelt on the ground and cried bitterly when he saw the decree to cede territory, unable to even stand up.
To be honest, Wang Fang's performance is still remarkable. Since Yangzhou City was surrounded by reverse forces, he led his troops out of the city many times to harass, trying to fill the ditch with sandbags to create a way for the soldiers in the city to come out, and then threatened Ming Ming. The army's logistics and food channels.
However, the Ming army's firepower was fierce, and the large rockets and thunder cannons continued to fire and bombard the Song army to disgrace. Therefore, the king's side was never able to succeed against the Ming army's fierce firepower.
Despite this, Wang Fang also attacked the Ming army's blockade many times, fighting during the day and at night, which made the Ming army quite exhausted. Later, Ling Zishi organized the Ming army to use two shifts day and night to regain the initiative. right.
There does seem to be a lot of food in Yangzhou city. The Ming army surrounded Yangzhou for a month and a half. Yangzhou remained motionless and there was no chaos in the city, which shows that there is no shortage of food. If we continue to fight, even if the main force of the Ming army attacks, it will not be that easy. .
Therefore, Zhao Xun's edict to cede territory was very important.
Because of the special circumstances of Yangzhou City, Tang Situi personally brought the edict to cede the land and asked the Yangzhou defenders to give up resistance. He carried the edict to cede the land as Shangshu Zuopushe. His identity was completely sufficient.
The king cried bitterly when facing Tang Si's retreat, facing the edict to cede territory, and facing the emperor's request.
"My ministers have stood firm to this day and have never allowed the Ming army to succeed. Yangzhou has remained motionless. Are we going to give it up now?"
Thinking of the hard work of the soldiers and civilians in the city, Tang Situi felt uncomfortable.
But he can't change the overall situation, let alone destroy it.
"This is a matter decided by the officials. We, the ministers, must abide by it. Otherwise, it will be disrespectful and rebellion. Besides, normal battles have been defeated. You haven't lost a city, so what can you do? Can it turn the tide of the war?"
Wang Fang knew that he could not reverse the situation of the war, but he still clearly remembered Liu Qi's instructions before his death. Liu Qi said that he could not surrender or admit defeat, and there was still room for redemption.
But is there any room for redemption now?
Obviously no more.
Wang Fang held the edict of ceding land and looked at the densely packed Ming army outside the city, and finally painfully issued the order to retreat and handed over Yangzhou City to the Ming army.
The soldiers of the Song Army who had stood firm and fought until now watched helplessly as the gate of the city they fought for opened, and the soldiers of the Ming Army entered arrogantly. Their hearts were filled with pain, unwillingness, and deep sadness. They were all filled with pain and unwillingness. Crying bitterly.
Even the strong men in the city who fought with the Song army shed tears because of such a scene.
After observing such a scene, Zhou Zhi felt deeply when he entered the city.
"The Song army is not all people who are greedy for life and afraid of death. Where there is kingship, there is Liu Qi, there is Guo Ze, there is Li Xianzhong, there is Wu Chao, there is Yao Xingli, there are useless troops who fled in the hope of wind, and there are also heroic warriors who have persisted and never retreated. The army cannot just regard the Southern Song Dynasty as an easy enemy to deal with."
Zhou Zhixue followed Zhou Zhi and gave his own opinion after hearing the words.
"I feel that no matter how hard the Southern Song Dynasty's army does, it is impossible to keep up with the construction of the Ming Dynasty's army. The training and high spirit of the Ming Dynasty's army are far beyond what the Song army can compare with, and the biggest gap between the two countries is not in the army. , but above the court."
