The Infinite Heavens Run Away

Chapter 165 2.118 Hongwu founded the country and the whole army went on the Northern Expedition [Please subscribe for more updates]

Chapter 2 I play a supporting role in Heroes
2.118 Hongwu founded the country and the whole army went to the Northern Expedition

On August 8, just three days after the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhu Yuanzhang formally built an altar in Xiangyang to pay homage to the generals and announced to the world that he would march eastward to conquer Jinling. This even violated the usual practice of sending troops in spring. Fortunately, the troops south of the Yangtze River The temperature in winter is okay, so we won’t encounter too many adverse effects.

For this Eastern Expedition, Zhu Yuanzhang mobilized 48 troops each from the Yuezhou Camp and Yongzhou Camp, and [-] troops from the nearby Jingzhou Camp, plus [-] troops from Xiangyang headquarters, for a total of [-] troops, combined with all [-] troops. Elite cavalry and a total of [-] latest ten-pound field guns-actually the twelve-pound field guns commonly used in Europe in real history.

However, fine iron is used here, so there is not much difference in size, weight and power, but the range is much inferior. It can only guarantee an accurate hit of eight hundred steps, which is about 1200 meters, while the real twelve-pounder cannon Can accurately hit a barn 1700 meters away.

Just three days after he led his army to set off, Meng Ge suddenly organized more than 10 people to raid Xiangyang City.It was a pity that the defenders of Xiangyang City used ferocious lead bullets to make him understand that this was still an insurmountable natural chasm.

During the one-day bloody battle, there were very few casualties in Xiangyang, mainly because some people were injured by the catapults of the Tartars; the number of casualties on the Tartars exceeded [-], and more than half of them died. Those who were hit by lead bullets were basically dead. The ones who didn't die were about to die - in this era, the heavy metal toxicity brought by lead bullets is completely incurable, and coupled with the infection problem that there is no way, these wounded soldiers are nothing more than a few days of death.

After that, there was no movement from Meng Ge's side, as if nothing had happened.

The entire army marches along the river, and the supply is completely handed over to the navy. Any dock on the riverside will be the best supply point, which will minimize the difficulty of supply. The combat effectiveness of the firearms unit is completely guaranteed by logistics. Without ammunition, a flintlock is not as effective as a spear.

As for the Yangtze River Navy in Jinling, Dai Qisi's Shenlong Fleet was responsible for solving it. For this reason, Zhu Yuanzhang assured Dai Qisi and Deng Feng in person that the Ryukyu Kingdom would be the "country without conquest" of the Ming Dynasty in the future. As long as Ryukyu does not betray, Then the Ming Dynasty would be friendly from generation to generation; Dai Qisi, as the leader of Ryukyu "Purple Shirt Dragon King", assured Zhu Yuanzhang that Ryukyu would be a vassal of the Ming Dynasty for generations to come.

There were very few battles along the way. Whether it was the Shenlong Fleet or the Wuchang Navy, they had been roaming the Yangtze River for many years. No one dared to provoke them. Most of the towns and strongholds were waiting for the wind.

In the only few battles, the enemy would basically choose to surrender shortly after the 10-pound field artillery fire. There were even many times when the general declared resistance. As a result, he was kidnapped by the people below and sent to the front of the army. The overall losses were minimal, basically. There is no reduction in personnel, but the important towns captured along the way need to be stationed separately.By the beginning of November, when the army arrived at Jinling City, there were less than 5 people.

In the current situation, there is no hope for the Zhao family in Jinling. This problem is known to the whole world. Therefore, although Zhao Gou has issued edicts from King Qin many times, only a few have come so far. Some of them still came to the city to see the situation and surrendered on the spot. Zhu Yuanzhang.

Wan Yangou's only hope was that the Jinling city wall was really strong. The 10-pound field cannon fired more than ten volleys, and the damage to the city wall was basically negligible.If the city wall cannot be opened, Zhu Yuanzhang's less than 5 men may not be able to fill in the moat outside the city.

Fortunately, in addition to the 10-pound field artillery equipped by the army, the Shenlong fleet on the Yangtze River is also equipped with heavy 24-pound and 36-pound naval guns. Although according to the range of artillery in this era, these naval guns are useless against city walls, but don't forget Yes, this is the world of martial arts, some things are really unscientific!
It took Zhu Yuanzhang two full days to gather more than 200 second-rate and above masters, plus 2000 civilian husbands, mainly in the form of martial arts masters and civilian husbands, and moved 20 24-pound naval guns to the Under the city of Jinling—the 36-pound guns really can’t be helped, they can’t be transported at all.

For a day and night, these heavy artillery bombarded a section of the city wall about twenty feet long. The next morning, amid the cheers of Zhu Yuanzhang's army, the city wall collapsed and a gap of more than ten feet long was opened. The army followed He rushed forward, and that afternoon, Zhao Gou was lifted and thrown at Zhu Yuanzhang's feet.

"General, someone found Zhao Gou from the secret room. This old thing is really good at hiding. The secret room is next to the toilet, and he doesn't think it smells bad. If it wasn't for the help of an old eunuch, he would have escaped." Chang Yuchun carelessly hugged Zhu Yuanzhang with his fists, which was regarded as a salute.

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" Of course Zhu Yuanzhang had met Zhao Gou, but that was when he went to Beijing to report on his duties more than four years ago. Now that the host and guest have changed, he really has a different feeling in his heart.

"The guilty minister Zhao Gou has seen the general." Zhao Gou has never been a man of integrity, and now he was trembling and kowtowing in salute.

"You are indeed guilty, but you are not guilty of taking away our great empire. After all, this world has always been populated by virtuous and capable people. I don't blame you for taking the throne. But you shouldn't completely forget the dignity of the Han people, like Like a dog, it can only wag its tail and beg for mercy towards any enemy." Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at Zhao Gou's nose and cursed, he really meant it.

I forgot to mention that the surname of the ex-Ming Dynasty was Zhu, and Zhu Yuanzhang was naturally also surnamed Zhu, so he pretended to be a distant branch of the royal family of the former Ming Dynasty, which was recognized by the whole world.

There is no way to deny it, because the clan of the former Ming Dynasty is completely raised as a pig, and can do nothing except hide at home and make a villain. A man named Zhu Yuanzhang happens to be alive now.The Qing Dynasty destroyed the Qian Ming Dynasty, and Li Zicheng repeatedly purged it. The genealogy of the Qian Ming Dynasty has long been impossible to find, and even cannot be verified.

"The guilty minister will die!" Zhao Gou's face turned completely pale.

"Speaking of which, this has something to do with the fact that they won the country improperly." Deng Feng, who brought his whole family except Huang Rong to watch the excitement, shook his head, "Whether it was the Northern Song Dynasty or the Southern Song Dynasty, they all obtained the throne through despicable means. Zhao Kuangyin Zhao Gou was even worse at bullying orphans and widowed mothers. As a result, he was afraid of being kicked out again every day, so he tried his best to suppress the generals and the army, and also tried his best to elevate the status of a group of corrupt scholars, hoping to last forever. But he didn't do it at all. Think about it, the army is rotten, if there is an invasion by foreign enemies, who will defend the country?"

"The King of Swordsmen means that I will pay special attention to the army in the future?" Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't care less about a man who was bound to die. Hearing the hint in Deng Feng's words, Zhu Yuanzhang asked him face to face.

"I'm not talking about specifically elevating the status of the military. In fact, we treat everyone the same. That is, we must never let those who bleed anymore shed tears, and never let those who work hard suffer anymore. Whoever has made a greater contribution to this country must be given a corresponding response. status and material rewards in order to encourage advancement and make most people think of others. The army is fighting, bleeding and dying. If your status is not as good as that of a rotten scholar who is not diligent in body and grain and does not distinguish grain, you let How can the people safely entrust their lives to the country?" Deng Feng explained completely based on various knowledge of later generations.

"Great talent of the Sword King!" Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and gave a thumbs up, "I understand - come on, take this false emperor down. You must take good care of him and try not to let him die. I will use him when I return to the capital in the future. Sacrifice the late Emperor alive! What a dishonest villain, he has betrayed the late Emperor's trust in vain!"

"General, have mercy, general, have mercy!" Zhao Gou's face showed no trace of humanity. He shouted almost with all his strength, but was dragged further and further away.

Turning around in all directions, Deng Feng looked at the old palace in the capital of the former Ming Dynasty and the palace of Zhao Gou, and lamented that the architecture of this era is all handmade.

"You all kneel down - Brother Zhu, this is the last time I call you Brother Zhu. I also hope that I will pity the people in the future and restore our mountains and rivers, so that my Han people will never have to call themselves slaves to anyone - Deng Feng, a grassroots man in the mountains and fields, kowtows to the Ming Dynasty Your Majesty, may my Emperor live long, long live, long live!" Deng Feng first nodded softly to the four girls, and then he also slammed the long knife in his hand on the ground, knelt on his knees and saluted Zhu Yuanzhang loudly!
This kneeling, Deng Feng sincerely said that Zhu Hongwu expelled the northern captives and restored the Han Dynasty. "No one can achieve the righteousness of the country like Hongwu"!It's a pity that future generations failed to live up to expectations and let a group of wild boar skins take over the country. "King of Swords, you..." Whether it's true or false, Zhu Yuanzhang always has to show off.

"Long live my emperor!" Although the surrounding soldiers reacted a little slowly, they were not fools. Seeing the example in front of them, they were naturally not so stupid that they couldn't even imitate him!
As the people around him knelt down, the surrounding people also knelt down, shouting "Long live" together. I don't know how long it took, but the sound of "Long live" seemed to echo through the sky throughout Jinling City, witnessing the birth of a new empire.

Zhu Yuanzhang stopped being pretentious at this time. When he was the only person standing around, he put his hands up and shouted loudly, "Everyone is equal!"

After that, Deng Feng took the four girls back to Yaowang Valley and ignored these matters again.What happens after that will be known until the news comes back.

After the capture of Jinling, Zhu Yuanzhang decreed that it should be renamed Yingtianfu, positioning it as the capital of the Ming Empire. After more than a month of renovations, he mainly reorganized and expanded the personnel, established regulations and systems, recruited civil and military ministers, and also did not forget to expand the army and raise food. , gather supplies and prepare for the next step.

On the first day of the first month of the 19th year when Deng Feng arrived in this world, when the people all over the world celebrated the Spring Festival with various feelings, Zhu Yuanzhang built an altar in the middle of Jinling City to sacrifice to heaven, and officially ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. Make his wife Ma Xiuying the empress, and concubine He Lingyu the imperial concubine of Wuying.

On the third day of the first lunar month, various armies that had basically completed their reorganization swept through the south of the Yangtze River under the leadership of generals. It was basically an armed march. Along the way, they recruited, expanded, and reorganized the original garrisons in major cities. There was basically no fighting. On March [-], Kawachi Meng Gong, the former commander-in-chief of the Song Army, formally requested surrender. He reached the border of Dali before the end of May and stopped temporarily.At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang nominally unified the Jiangnan area except Dali.

On the third day of March in the second year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had basically integrated the Jiangnan region, formally swore the Northern Expedition in Yingtian Mansion. Shortly after crossing the river, Chen Jialuo, the de facto ruler of the Jianghuai region, formally asked to surrender in the name of Li Kexiu, the Manchu Jianghuai admiral. By the end of April , the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expeditionary Army approached the Manchu and Qing Huaihe defense lines without any bloodshed.

"The minister Liu Ji pays homage to my emperor! I have not kowtowed for many years, and I hope my emperor will make amends!" A handsome and handsome man kneeled down to pay respects to Zhu Yuanzhang in Hangzhou, and Zhu Yuanzhang grabbed his arms and lifted him up.

"Haha, why should Bowen be so courteous? I'm too happy to make such a great contribution today, hahaha!" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the person in front of him with a happy face, and the core members of the original Red Flower Society around him seemed to have known it a long time ago, and their expressions were very calm. But others were confused.

It turned out that it was Liu Ji and Liu Bowen who helped the Red Flower Club control Li Kexiu, indirectly control, reorganize and develop the original Manchu Qing Jianghuai Green Camp in recent years. He had already worshiped Zhu Yuanzhang as his lord, and invited himself to join the Red Flower Club in Jianghuai to assist them. Even Li Yuanzhi knew about controlling and controlling Li Kexiu, but she didn't tell her father.

In response, Deng Feng smiled and said nothing. Not long ago, he asked Jin Yiwei about the identity of this person. In fact, Deng Feng already knew. After all, the strength of Yaowang Valley was there. As soon as he heard his name, Deng Feng Know the identity of this "Liu Junshi".

But Qinglong's reply was still "Mingjiao Liu Ji, the origins of the rest are unknown."

On May 10th, about 15 troops from the Xiangyang garrison and reinforcements launched a surprise attack on the Tatar military camp outside the city in the early morning. First, they used experts from all walks of life as sharp knives to clear out the Tatar ranger sentries along the way, and then the entire army Assault, after a day and night of fighting and the subsequent pursuit, the main Tatar force of about [-] people was basically wiped out. The Tatar Khan Mengge was shot to death on the spot.

However, the army failed to take advantage of the situation and march northward. Instead, it stationed troops in Xinyang, Nanyang and Xiangcheng. Finally, it stopped stationing troops in Xuchang and faced off against the Tatar army of Kublai Khan in a defensive and offensive posture. Kublai Khan had exhausted all his troops. 20 Wan, with the attitude of sweeping away fallen leaves in the autumn wind, captured Luoyang, the Jin Kingdom was destroyed, and the remaining forces fled everywhere, and some of them fled to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

After the news of Meng Ge's death came out, Kublai Khan ascended the throne as the Great Khan on June 6; not long after, on July 16, Ali Bu Ge proclaimed himself khan in the grassland; the main Tatar forces, including most of the Ruyang Palace, were named Ali Bu Ge in the grassland. The elder brother was Zhengshuo. On August 7, Kublai Khan changed his reign name to "Dayuan" in anger and officially proclaimed himself emperor.

Since it was almost late autumn and would soon be cold winter, it was not suitable for large-scale operations, so both sides stopped their troops to repair.

On the second day of February in the third year of Hongwu, when the temperature was just beginning to heat up, the Ming army stationed in Xiangcheng and the Jianghuai Ming army that had completed the reorganization joined forces. The Ming army that arrived in Suqian cooperated with the main force of the Manchu Qing Dynasty stationed in Xuzhou.

At about the same time, Xuchang Ming’s army, whose reinforcements from Xinyang and Nanyang had been replenished to 15, broke out in a decisive battle with Kublai Khan’s 20 main force.

In this battle, due to the lack of equivalent cavalry strength, the Ming army suffered an absolute loss of more than 10 people, and almost everyone else was injured and basically lost their combat capability; the 20 Tatar main force had no experience fighting against firearms troops, and was blindly optimistic and reckless. The assault caused more than 12 people to stay on the battlefield forever, and the remnants fled back to Luoyang like bereaved dogs, leaving less than 5 people, and the rest fled.

On the sixth day of June, 12 Sichuan Ming troops who had completely reorganized left Hanzhong for the Northern Expedition. The Tatar garrison, which was basically a miscellaneous army, retreated all the way. After the Ming army basically swept through southern Shaanxi and Gannan, they stationed troops near Zhongnan Mountain and approached Chang'an.

During the same period, a decisive battle broke out between the Jianghuai and Suzhou Ming troops and the main Manchu and Qing forces in Xuzhou. 13 Ming troops fought with nearly 30 Manchu and Qing troops for half a month. What no one expected was that the Eight Banners soldiers, who were said to be "invincible" It has long been festered, and almost no one can withstand three rounds of volleys from the Ming army's fusiliers.

Affected by the rout of the Eight Banners, more than half of the remaining Green Battalion, which had no fighting will, followed the rout. In the end, less than 6 people were killed and injured, and more than 12 were captured. After excluding the disintegrated parts, less than 5 Qing soldiers remained. The army even Qilu gave up and fled back to Beizhili.

In early July, Kublai Khan deceived the confronting Ming army of Xuchang with the strategy of "building plank roads in the open and concealing Chen Cang". The main force returned to Chang'an and fought a fierce battle with the Ming army in Zhongnan Mountain. The Ming army, which was ill-prepared, suffered heavy casualties, but the Yuan Dynasty army in the offensive position suffered heavy casualties. The Ming army also failed to win. In the end, the Ming army retreated 30 miles to the stronghold, and the Yuan army retreated to Chang'an. Neither side gained an absolute advantage.

After the news came out, at the end of July, the entire Ming army in Xuchang launched an assault and successfully captured the important town of Luoyang. At this point, the Yuan army completely lost its area of ​​activity and was basically in a defensive state.

At the same time, the merged Xuzhou Ming army swept Qilu and marched straight into Beizhili. After taking Baoding, the gateway to the capital, they stopped and began to replenish and repair. At the same time, the Manchu and Qing troops in Shengjing kidnapped Prince Bao Hong, who was already drunk and dreaming. Li Chi came to the aid of the capital. At this point, coupled with the temporary expansion of various military services and the remnants of the Jin Kingdom who fled here, the Manchu and Qing garrison in the capital had nominally reached 36, while the Ming army in Baoding was less than 15.

After that, all parties were unable to fight anymore and each made repairs and supplements.

(End of this chapter)