Because of a blizzard, the Chu army had to stop large-scale military operations.
After capturing Jinling City, the Sixth Division, which was originally planning to go south to Lishui, and the First Division, which was originally planning to go east to Zhenjiang, had to stop.
However, some things were also lost. Taking advantage of the bad weather during the past few days of snow, the 1st Division and the 6th Division also took a rare rest and replenishment.
You must know that the troops advancing eastward, especially the 1st and 6th Divisions as the main forces, have been fighting hard for several months. There will be rest and replenishment in the middle, but in the end the condition is no longer as good as the peak.
Taking advantage of the snow in the past few days, the Army added some of the new recruits who had just arrived at the front line to the First Division and the Sixth Division, bringing these two main forces back to full strength.
In terms of equipment, the two main forces were also supplemented with some guns, armor, swords, spears, etc.
In the previous battles, even though the Chu army won consecutive battles and its casualties were very small compared to the Ming army, there would always be casualties and equipment losses.
In the Battle of Jinling City, the Sixth Division, as the main offensive force, had its main combat area in the city, so its main fighting method was close-range melee.
In this case, it was more difficult for the Chu army to use its superiority in guns and artillery, so the overall casualties were still relatively large compared to previous battles.
After a battle at Jinling City, nearly 200 people of the Sixth Division were killed and more than 300 people were injured.
The previous series of small and medium-sized battles, the Battle of Anqing, the Battle of Hukou, plus the Battle of Jiujiang where the Sixth Division was the main attack.
Taken together, the Sixth Division actually had more than a thousand killed and more than two thousand injured, for a total casualty of more than three thousand.
The Sixth Division had only more than 14,000 troops before the war.
The reason why it can continue to maintain combat effectiveness and there is not a big shortage of personnel is because newly trained recruits from the rear continue to arrive at the front and replenish the Sixth Division.
After the Battle of Jinling, the Sixth Division replenished more than 1,000 new soldiers in one breath and returned to full strength.
In addition to personnel, what actually needs to be supplemented are weapons, equipment and other types of materials.
Among them, more than ten artillery pieces were added, mainly two-and-a-half-pound field guns and five-pound field guns. The reasons for the loss of artillery were various, some were due to explosions, and some were due to emergency battle conditions. The artillerymen took measures regardless of the life of the barrels. Extremely high-intensity rapid fire for a long time causes the life of the barrel to be drastically reduced until it is close to scrapping.
Others were attacked and damaged by enemy troops, or simply the gun mount was damaged during the march and could not maneuver and fell behind.
These artillery pieces that have been lost or damaged and need to be repaired need to be supplemented and replaced one by one.
Not to mention individual weapons such as muskets, armor, and spears, the loss rate is even greater.
Basically, after a large-scale battle, a considerable amount of individual equipment is either lost or completely damaged beyond repair, and some weapons need to be repaired. Especially cold weapons, a higher proportion of them need to be repaired after a war.
Finally, there is a large category of supplies that need to be replenished: mules and horses.
The Chu army's marching intensity was still relatively high, and the key to high-intensity marching was not people, but mules and horses.
Whether it is artillery, ammunition, food and grass, or simply individual equipment carried by soldiers, these all need to be transported by horse-drawn carriages.
The mules and horses that pulled carriages became an indispensable part of the army.
But mules and horses not only eat a lot and consume a lot of energy, but also have far less endurance than humans. When they continue to march at high intensity, the losses of mules and horses are considerable.
The reason why the Sixth Division was able to maintain high mobility during the Eastern Expedition was not because the mules and horses prepared before the war were too powerful, but because the Sixth Division requisitioned local mules and horses while fighting.
Among them, the Sixth Baggage Regiment alone was on the road, and more than a thousand mules and horses were forcibly requisitioned. This basically meant that the Sixth Baggage Regiment lost more than a thousand mules and horses on the road.
This is just the Sixth Baggage Regiment. Other troops of the Sixth Division have also requisitioned a large number of mules and horses to maintain the number of mules and horses in the army and ensure mobility.
Taken together, the Sixth Division is estimated to have requisitioned and replenished more than 3,000 mules and horses along the way.
However, even so, when the Sixth Division reached Jinling City, the gap between mules and horses was still very large.
This time, taking advantage of the rest time, the Logistics Department plundered hundreds of mules and horses from the city and surrounding areas to replenish them to the Sixth Division.
The Sixth Division is replenishing personnel, guns, mules, horses, ammunition, and other supplies.
The same was true for the 1st Division, two independent mortar regiments.
However, the First Guards Division can slow down a little, because according to the combat plan, the First Guards Division will be stationed in Jinling City in the future.
On the one hand, it is used as a strategic reserve force, and on the other hand, it is also used to garrison Jinling City and suppress surrounding areas.
At the same time, it also served as a garrison for the forts and fortresses along the river in Jinling City, cooperating with the navy to block the Ming navy from moving up the river.
It is said that after the Chu army captured Jinling City, although the Ming Navy temporarily retreated, it returned to the Yangtze River outside Jinling City the next day and bombarded the areas along the Jinling City, especially the docks and ports. , directly smashing the local port terminal to pieces.
They even broke into the Dashengguan area. Well, this is also the camp where the Chu army and navy are currently stationed.
This made the navy so angry that they almost couldn't help but rush out and have a decisive battle with the Ming Navy fleet, but in the end they were suppressed by several large ships belonging to Zheng Zhilong's fleet in the Ming Navy. I can shout, but I don’t dare to kill...
But Jiang defense cannot be left without. Since the navy is unreliable, the military naturally needs to think of other methods, such as building Jiang defense forts.
Because of the urgent need for river defense, the Army directly deployed multiple fourteen-pound siege artillery that directly attacked Jinling City, plus some nine-pound field artillery, to the area along the river outside Yuejiang Tower, and built a preliminary Yuejiang Tower. fort.
The surface of this section of the Yangtze River is only more than a thousand meters, and the use of nine-pound and fourteen-pound artillery can effectively block it.
In this way, it can be considered that the situation of the Ming Navy's navy moving up the river has been initially controlled.
However, artillery alone is not enough for the fort. It also requires a certain amount of garrison troops to prevent the enemy from landing directly and attacking the fort from the ground. Therefore, the First Guards Division also dispatched a regiment to garrison the Yuejianglou Fort.
Generally speaking, the subsequent tasks of the 1st Guards Division are relatively light, so the supplementary sequence is also ranked behind.
While the troops were resting and replenishing, the Chu Empire also entered a new era.
October 20th, a snowy day.
Luo Zhixue issued an order at the Yuhuatai headquarters outside the city to officially move to Yingtianfu from now on, with Yingtianfu as the capital.
The official move to Jinling City in Tingtianfu is a historic step for the Chu Empire. It means that the Chu Empire has officially transformed from a small local government limited to the Huguang area to a large-scale political power that occupies half of China.
This is an important link in the development of the Chu Empire from Huguang to the whole of China.
For this reason, after the corporal officially moved the capital, Luo Zhixue also held a series of formal ceremonies at the Temple of Heaven in the eastern suburbs of Jinling City on October 25th.
These rituals are of little practical use and consume manpower and material resources, but they are indispensable in the rise of a dynasty because they represent legitimacy.
Contemporary people, especially scholars, recognize this.
Even the civil and military officials within the Great Chu Empire recognized this.
No matter how serious it is to hold a ceremony like offering sacrifices to heaven, I always feel like I am still a group of thieves and bandits...
However, after the various ceremonies were completed, Luo Zhixue did not move into the palace in Jinling City.
That place had long been abandoned. Before the Chu army arrived, there were only ruins and ruins, the ground was covered with weeds, and there were not many intact buildings.
If it is repair, it is basically no different from rebuilding a palace. The amount of work is too large and it is impossible to complete it in a short time.
After a court meeting, it was initially decided to rebuild the palace on the former site of the Ming Dynasty Palace, but the reconstruction time would take several years at least.
Before that, Luo Zhixue will temporarily use the relatively well-preserved garden building in Jinling City, the Wei Guogong Mansion, as his palace.
Someone had suggested that the inner garrison in the southwest corner of the palace be used as a temporary residence, but Luo Zhixue glared back.
Although Luo Zhixue is actually not too picky about where he lives, whether it is a tent when leading troops to fight, a temple in the wild, or a private house, Luo Zhixue has no problem with it.
But, he doesn't live in this palace alone, a group of harem concubines who are coming one after another will also live here.
The Inner Guards House used to be the place where Nanjing’s garrison eunuchs lived...
How should I put it, Luo Zhixue felt awkward living in this place.
If you are an emperor, how can you live in a place where eunuchs live...
Don't be wronged by anyone, so Luo Zhixue looked at the large mansions in Jinling City that were well preserved and had not been damaged by the war one by one, and directly chose Wei Guogong's Mansion as his palace.
Historically, the reason why Emperor Hongguang lived here instead of choosing a lofty garden like Duke Wei's Mansion was because Emperor Hongguang was carried up by Wei Guogong and others together. As long as his brain was not broken, he would not be able to rob someone else's house. The residence of the Duke of Wei...
Besides, he has no real power, so he can't grab it even if he wants to.
However, these problems do not exist for Luo Zhixue. Nowadays, all the powerful gentry in Jinling City, except for a few officials who secretly surrendered before, such as Li Yuankui, have all been killed or arrested. .
Naturally, this also includes Wei Guogong’s family.
In the capture of Jinling City, a dozen of the high-ranking officials above the rank of minister were killed or captured... and a dozen of other princes and marquis were killed or captured...
There are even more other high-ranking officials and gentry.
Under such circumstances, no one in the city should have any objections to Luo Zhixue's decision to stay at the Wei Guogong Mansion.
On October 27th, Luo Zhixue officially stayed in the palace renovated from the Wei Guogong Mansion.
The reason why it has been delayed for so many days is that it is necessary to give the troops entering the city time to rectify the stubborn resisters in the city.
As the former capital and companion capital of the Ming Dynasty, Jinling City had huge political influence, and many dignitaries of the Ming Dynasty lived in the city.
It can be said that there are countless dignitaries, gentry, ordinary wealthy people and even ordinary scholars in the city who are attracted to the Ming Dynasty.
For these people, the Chu Empire in other places often turns a blind eye. As long as you pay taxes honestly, do not openly rebel, and obey the rules of the Chu Empire, then the people of the Chu Empire will I don’t care about you either.
But Jinling City is different. This place is about to be used as the capital.
Neither Luo Zhixue nor a group of officials from the Chu Empire could rest assured that he would be living with a group of old and young people from the Ming Dynasty who cherished the Ming Dynasty.
As a result, large-scale purges and rectifications were inevitable.
First, Dongcheng District and Beicheng District, and then the entire city were cleared on a large scale. After the rectification was completed, Luo Zhixue officially entered the city and stayed at Wei Guogong Mansion.
Other ministers also entered the city one after another and stayed in the mansions assigned to them.
In the following period, a large number of families of officials and soldiers from the Great Chu Empire will also migrate to Jinling City from Wuchang, Xiangyang and other places.
From now on, Jinling City will become the new political, economic, and cultural center of the Chu Empire.
