With such determination, Su Yonglin opened a wide range of state-owned handicraft workshops across the country.
He first introduced the industrial production model into the Ming Dynasty, expanded the group of proletarian workers, cultivated beneficiary groups in the secondary industry, and supported them to strengthen their political power, giving them the ability to safeguard their own interests.
At the same time, a large amount of capital was injected to expand the scale of the factory, improve the production capacity of the handicraft industry, and simultaneously carry out technological innovation.
He needs to compress this process into a relatively short period of time, otherwise, he may not be able to lead the people of the Ming Dynasty to change the world while he is still alive.
This is not easy, very difficult, but for Su Yonglin, he has no choice.
Now that you have embarked on this path, you must go to the end and never give up halfway.
In one battle, they defeated the Southern Song Dynasty and completely eliminated the main force of its army, laying the foundation for the subsequent comprehensive southward movement.
In Su Yonglin's opinion, the significance of this battle is no less than that of the battle between Qin and Zhao Changping.
The difference is that the Zhao State back then could still recruit 400,000 people to fight the Qin State. How many people can the current Zhao and Song regime draw to fight the Ming Army?
Of course, this is not important to Zhang Yuejing on the front line.
When he led his army down the river to the second city of Xiangfan, he saw black smoke billowing into the sky, and knew that this was the Song army's way of notifying the Xiangfan defenders of their arrival through the beacon tower.
The previous strategic reconnaissance had let him know the Song Army's tactical preparations, but all this was of little significance to the Ming Army. Whether there was a beacon tower or whether it was known in advance was meaningless. Anyway, the Ming Army was unlikely to be in this situation. Conduct a raid.
So just go with it, it’s not a big deal.
Moreover, Zhang Yuejing originally felt that this battle should be a hard battle, and the battle would be very difficult. The defensive state of the Second City of Xiangfan made him worried. He was worried that a bloody battle would cause too many elite veterans of the Henan Corps to lose, and thus lose the ability to continue going south. possible. .
However, when he saw the Shenji Battalion heading south from the Central Capital and the dozens of ten-foot-long general cannons they carried, the doubts in his heart were slightly reduced.
And when he saw the gunners of the Shenji Battalion test-firing the general cannon, this worry quickly reduced to a completely bearable level.
This level of horrific bombardment... let alone those wooden military fortresses, how long can even the solid and thick cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng withstand it?
Zhang Yuejing was really surprised that Su Yonglin had done such a big thing quietly.
Then he started to get excited.
At first, he thought it might take two years to conquer Xiangyang and Fancheng. Later, he thought that a year would be enough if he worked harder. But now it seems that if the power of the new artillery is strong enough, then Xiangfan can be captured in two or three months. The town is heavy.
But even if he could win it, Zhang Yuejing didn't want to win it so quickly, because he needed the two cities of Xiangfan as bait to attract Song army reinforcements to come for support. He wanted to engage in a battle to encircle the point and completely destroy the main force of the Southern Song army.
On the second day of April in the fifth year of Hongwu, Zhang Yuejing, commander of the Henan Corps, led a total of 45,000 troops from the trapped army, the cavalry directly under the Corps and the Shenji Battalion all the way south along the Bihe River to arrive fifteen miles northeast of the Second City of Xiangfan.
Zhang Yuejing then arranged his troops and deployed the three divisions of the trapped army in the north, east and west directions of the Fancheng defensive circle in the area north of the Han River, building a larger encirclement and counterattacking the Fancheng defensive circle. surrounded.
Later, Zhang Yuejing took He Feihu, the commander of the Shenji Battalion, to the hill to watch the Song Army's defensive posture and learn about the specific situation.
"The Song army still has capable people, and the defense of Xiangfan is really strong. There are so many military strongholds and trenches. If we attack by force, we will probably pay a high price."
He Feihu smiled slightly at this.
"The appearance of artillery is just for this day, especially the general cannon. Commander Zhang may not know that the Shenji Battalion has participated in nearly twenty battles since its formation, but not once has the general cannon been used.
Because the general's artillery deals with the world's fortified cities like the Second City of Xiangfan, and such fortified cities in the world cannot be encountered all the time, this time His Majesty gave us the opportunity to attack Xiangfan, and everyone was gearing up and eager to try. "
Zhang Yuejing laughed loudly and patted He Feihu on the shoulder.
"Then let me see how powerful your Shenji Battalion is!"
He Feihu took the order and immediately ordered the twenty-five general artillery batteries of the Shenji Battalion to start building artillery positions and prepare to launch an attack on the outermost military stronghold of the Fancheng defense circle. The fifty cavalry general artillery batteries also Prepare accordingly.
Before the battle started, Zhao Yucheng, a representative of the Xu Tong Division of the Southern Peasant Army, came to visit Zhang Yuejing and was entertained by Zhang Yuejing.
Zhang Yuejing took them to visit the artillery position of the Shenji Battalion, introduced to them the Ming army's new weapons, and told them that they only needed to wait for news in the new city, and leave the rest to them.
Xu Tong was very surprised when he learned the news, so he temporarily handed over the command of the army to the instructor Zhou Qiang, and took a guard to the Henan Corps barracks to observe the operation of new firearms.
What kind of new firearms can actually give the Henan Corps so much confidence?
He was curious.
After Xu Tong arrived at the current station of the Henan Corps, he was personally greeted by Zhang Yuejing.
"You are the Xu Tong who led four thousand troops to Lin'an to threaten Zhao Guan's family, right? I know you!"
Zhang Yuejing laughed loudly: "What a courageous person. Liu Bei said that Zhao Yun is full of courage. I think you are also full of courage. Four thousand people dare to travel thousands of miles to Lin'an. It's incredible!"
Xu Tong felt a little embarrassed when he praised Zhang Yuejing, so he quickly became humble.
"It's not that I'm great, it's just that the Southern Song Dynasty court was too useless. Any comrade could lead people to kill like me."
Xu Tong is quite proud on weekdays, but he also knows who he can be proud of in front of and who he must keep his tail between his legs.
Zhang Yuejing was one of the Five Tiger Generals of the Ming Empire. He was the first general to fight under Su Yonglin and the first general to take charge of his own role. His Henan Corps was the first to successfully form a corps-level combat force and was also an elite corps with outstanding military exploits.
As soon as it was established, it was able to beat the Henan Jin Army and expel all the Henan Jin Army. Later, it participated in the Battle of Guanzhong and the First Ming and Song Dynasty War. The results were brilliant. Zhang Yuejing himself was evaluated as the most capable fighter among the Five Tiger Generals. one of.
Although this evaluation is still somewhat controversial at present.
