Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 225
  At night, the entire city of Beiping became quiet.

Firelights lit up the streets, and a team of more than [-] people, led by Zhang Bing and Xie Gui in armor, majestically surrounded Prince Yan's palace.

"The common people in Bohai rebelled, and Xie Gui, the general commander, was ordered to come and search Yan Mansion. If you generals don't open the city gate again, you will be punished!"

Three thousand officers and soldiers surrounded the Yan Mansion and screamed under the city of Prince Yan's Mansion at night.

Standing on the city gate tower, the person in charge of the guard was none other than Zhu Gaochi, who had returned from Nanjing.

"Absurd! My second brother is loyal to the country, how can he rebel!"

Zhu Gaochi rebuked Zhang Bing and Xie Gui. Zhang Bing heard his voice and bowed: "Your Highness, the common people of Bohai have indeed rebelled. If you think about the overall situation, please let me and my two troops enter the city to search. Clear the innocence of everyone in Yan Mansion!"

After his voice came out, Zhu Gaochi did not respond for a long time, but the gate of Prince Yan's Mansion slowly opened.

Seeing this, Zhang Bing chuckled: "The Prince of Yan is weak and is indeed not as difficult to deal with as the common people of Bohai."

"Don't take it lightly. King Yan may be pretending to be crazy. You and I should be careful." After all, Xie Gui was a veteran of the Hongwu Dynasty and knew how powerful Zhu Di was. Therefore, he did not relax his vigilance. Instead, he sent a hundred people into King Yan's Mansion first and waited. After a quarter of an hour to make sure there was no ambush, he and Zhang Bing dismounted and walked into Prince Yan's palace.

For some reason, there is a sense of desolation in the air of Prince Yan's Mansion tonight. It is still midsummer, but there is a chill in it.

Xie Gui entered the city of King Yan's palace and looked behind him cautiously, preparing for the army to follow him into the city.

But just as he turned around, a dark curtain suddenly fell at the city gate, cutting off his ability to communicate with the outside world.

"The formation!!"

Xie Gui was not slow to respond, but at this moment, the sound of rustling armor plates came from the city wall horse path.

The sound made Xie Gui's heart sink, and Zhang Bing next to him nervously pulled out the long decorative sword from his waist.

Soon, two fire dragons surrounded the more than [-] of them. Under the dim firelight, the guards of the Yan Mansion looked fierce. Then we can invade Yan Mansion!"

"yes?!"

A loud voice came from the Yan army. Xie Gui and Zhang Bing looked and saw Zhu Di wearing armor.

"Sure enough, you're not crazy!"

Xie Gui looked at Zhu Di fiercely, but Zhu Di threw two spherical objects.

"Just because these two people are acting as internal agents, do you think you can take me down?"

The ball landed on the ground, rolled a few times and then revealed its front face. It was the heads of Ge Cheng and Lu Zhen.

"Prince Yan, are you planning to rebel?!"

Zhang Bing questioned Zhu Di, but Zhu Di shook his head: "I am not treasonous, it is the treacherous ministers in the south who seduced my nephew."

"The Instructions of the Ancestors says: If there are no honest ministers in the dynasty and there are evildoers in the dynasty, the prince will train the troops and be on standby. The emperor will give secret orders to the kings and lead the troops to bring peace. After peace is achieved, the troops will be collected in the camp and the emperor will return to the dynasty. As a king If they don't come, they will send their generals to seek peace, and their generals will also withdraw their troops in the camp."

"I am His Majesty's biological uncle. Now someone is trying to trick him into attacking several of his uncles. As the leader of the vassals, if I cannot abide by the "Ancestor Instructions" and Qingjun sidelines the country, then I will be disgraced to the emperor!"

Zhu Di moved out Zhu Yuanzhang, which made Xie Gui and Zhang Bing look gloomy. They naturally knew the words Zhu Yuanzhang left. Not only them, but also the courtiers knew this sentence, but no one took it seriously, especially Zhu Yunwen killed all seven vassal kings and twenty-one guards, making this sentence even more ridiculous.

But they never thought that not only Zhu Gaoxu used these words as the basis to raise troops, but also Zhu Di also raised troops in this way.

"Sure enough, like father, like son. We should have thought that you, father and son, might have conspired to rebel!"

Xie Gui snorted coldly, but he was still confident because there were still three thousand siege soldiers outside the house.

Just facing his confidence, Zhu Di grinned: "Xie Gui, you are waiting, I am waiting too..."

As soon as Zhu Di spoke, Xie Gui had no time to think about it and heard the sound of horse hooves outside the royal city.

When this voice appeared, Xie Gui's expression suddenly changed.

The defenders in the city had horses and cavalry, but they were not many in number and could not create such a big momentum.

Zhu Di had clearly made preparations when he raised his troops. The sound of horse hooves probably represented the entry of the three Yanshan guards into the city.

"It's over..."

Xie Gui only had this last thought left in his mind, and then he saw Zhu Di pull out the sword from his waist: "Brothers, do it!"

"kill!!"

When the sound of fighting rang out, Xie Gui and others did not have time to think too much, and they fought hard with short soldiers.

At night, the entire city of Beiping was filled with shouts of killing. Many people held farm tools and guarded their homes, fearing that the chaos would turn into burning, killing and looting.

Standing on the gate tower of the royal city, Zhu Gaochi looked at the fighting outside the Yan Mansion, and he was still confused.

"Our family...really started an army..."

Under his watch, Zhu Di had someone open the thousand-pound gate in the royal city. He personally carried the heads of Zhang Bing and Xie Gui to the stone bridge of the moat, and shouted: "Zhang Bing and Xie Gui, these traitorous officials have been killed." When I die, I am not causing trouble, but following Emperor Gao’s last words to provide peace to heaven.”

The Peiping defenders were unwilling to take action against Zhu Di. Seeing that Zhang Bing and Zhang Bing were dead, they immediately laid down their weapons and surrendered.

In just one night, everyone inside and outside the nine gates of Peiping surrendered. Counting the garrison of less than [-], Zhu Di had more than [-] soldiers and horses in his hands.

He was still lamenting that he had too few troops, but he didn't know that in history, he was forced to end up with only [-] men.

If Zhu Gaoxu hadn't raised troops in advance to force him, I'm afraid he would still be wavering because of the few people in his hands.

"Your Highness, everything has been cleaned up. There is enough food and grass in the city's treasury to feed the soldiers and civilians in the city for six months."

In the early morning, when the sky was slightly bright, the entire city of Peiping had been cleared and captured by Zhu Di.

Zhang Yu and others in armor found Zhu Di and Yao Guangxiao standing on the gate tower of Qihua Gate and reported the situation in Peiping in detail.

"We only have [-] people. It is very difficult to pacify the enemy with this small force. Tongzhou, Zunhua and Miyun are all our own people. You each bring people to send messages to ask them to join me. If you don't want to, don't force them. .”

"I will personally lead the troops to Jizhou in a moment and capture it!"

Zhu Di responded quickly militarily. He knew very well that Peking City alone could not launch the Jingnan Rebellion, so he had to capture Beiping Prefecture and Yongping Prefecture.

"That's it, I'm afraid it's not enough."

Yao Guangxiao, who was dressed in black robes, spoke and said to Zhu Di: "Your Highness, you should know that the terrain of Peiping is open and there is no danger to defend. We must capture Juyong Pass, Songting Pass, and Shanhaiguan to defend the officers and soldiers in the three directions of Liaodong, Daning, and Shanxi. Pincer attack."

"I know..." Zhu Di responded calmly, with a serious look on his face: "It's just that that little bastard Zhu Yunwen has already mobilized Yu Tian and others to defend these three passes heavily. We don't have many soldiers, so we can't waste our troops by attacking the pass city. "

"Then your Highness, please appeal to the imperial court now, express that you are just trying to suppress the emperor's rule and appease the country, and use the words of Emperor Gao to block the imperial court's mouth."

Yao Guangxiao taught Zhu Di how to occupy the high ground of public opinion, and Zhu Di also nodded heavily after hearing this.

Not long after, he wrote a memorial and gave it to Xie Gui and other captured loyalists, asking them to take the memorial southward, while he himself began to attack the two prefectures of Beiping and Yongping.

After receiving the news that Zhu Di was led by Xie Gui and others to forcibly cut down the feudal vassal and had no choice but to raise troops, Tongzhou, Zunhua, Miyun, and Yongping took the initiative to surrender one after another. Only Jizhou, which Zhu Di had expected, defended.

However, Jizhou was outnumbered and was defeated by Zhu Di's army in just one day.

In just two days, Zhu Di had completely captured Shuntian and Yongping Prefectures, with more than [-] civilians and more than [-] troops.

The news spread to all directions, and the defenders at Songting Pass, Juyong Pass and Shanhaiguan began to prepare for war.

After Yu Cai, the general at Juyong Pass, learned the news, he immediately sent a message for help to Fang Zhao, who had more than [-] troops stationed behind him, and at the same time sent people to Kaiping Five Guards to mobilize troops.

"drive!!"

"Get away! Get away!"

In Juyong Pass, the Tangqi who passed the news back and forth were exhausted, and their tempers became stronger. They scolded the people who blocked their way.

The people fled in a hurry, but they were still knocked down by the horses. The Tangqi did not care about taking care of them and rode away directly.

"What's going on? Why don't you apologize if you bump into someone..."

"I'm a soldier. Are you looking for death?"

"Why are there so many people coming and going?"

"I heard that King Yan and Bohai County rebelled. It seems that he sent people to arrest them, and then they rebelled after they refused to accept it..."

"No wonder... that one was too cruel to his uncle, nephew and brother..."

"Shh... be quiet."

The few people in Juyong Pass were discussing the major events of the day, but they were worried that they would be punished for speaking too loudly, so no one paid attention to the few people who were knocked down.

After they staggered to their feet, they left cursing.

It happened that at this time, a large group of officers and soldiers entered the city from the Shanxi direction. The line stretched out, and thousands of people entered the city without interruption.

The people who were knocked down gathered together and saw so many officers and soldiers entering the city, including many Mongolians. They stepped forward and asked in Mongolian: "Where are you going?"

"Go to Peiping to suppress the rebellion!" the Mongolian soldiers responded, and also asked: "Which movie does your accent come from?"

"I don't remember, I was born here."

After chatting for a few words, the Mongolian soldiers followed the team and left, but the people who were hit began to communicate. They rushed home while communicating, but they saw that the entire alley had been surrounded by officers and soldiers, and their family members were sitting at the entrance of the alley in embarrassment.

"What's wrong? Why don't you go home?"

"We were kicked out. They said they were going to suppress the rebellion. There was not enough room in the military camp, so they asked us to vacate the house. When we didn't let them, they started dragging us out."

"Dad, our food is still in there, they've all eaten it!"

"Beasts!!" Hearing that their homes were actually occupied, the herdsmen who had been hit by horses were not convinced, but they did not dare to argue, so they could only suppress their temper and move their families to the homes of relatives who were not suffering.

After everything was settled, they got together.

"These guys didn't even apologize when they bumped into us. They clearly don't treat us as human beings."

"I heard that King Yan is very kind to us Mongolians. Let's just bring the news to King Yan, and maybe we can get some sheep in exchange."

"Yes! Anyway, the food has been eaten up, and we will all starve to death before the autumn harvest. We might as well report the news to King Yan directly, and maybe we can get some benefits in exchange."

Together, they walked out of Juyong Pass and walked towards Beiping City while it was still dark.

They walked hundreds of miles for three consecutive days. After eating the brown rice they brought with them, they went fishing and used stones to kill rabbits to eat.

Since the population in the north is sparse and wild animals are abundant, it is relatively easy to hunt something.

After staying up for three days, they met Tang Qi who was patrolling the northern periphery in the early morning and informed them of their intention.

The news passed through Tangqi and soon reached the ears of Zhu Di in Peiping.

At this time, he was still ordering the entire army to prepare half of the food in the treasury as military rations in preparation for going south.

When he learned about the mobilization of troops and horses at Juyongguan, he immediately calculated with Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng: "The flag with the word Fang must be Fang Zhao."

"I know this person, so there is nothing to be afraid of. We can take advantage of them to have a decisive battle with them when they leave the customs. As long as we destroy them, we can capture Juyong Pass and further capture Huailai's reserve warehouse!"

After he finished speaking, he turned back to Na Tangqi and said, "Let the boss meet those people, give them ten guan of money, and give them a mule and a cart of grain."

"Yes!" Tang Qi agreed, then turned and left the camp where the military rations were made.

Zhu Di had already begun preparations, and Zhu Yunwen, who had been waiting for three days, also received urgent reports from Peiping and Liaodong on the same day.

"Beiping and Yongping prefectures, except Jizhou, resisted, and the others surrendered without firing an arrow."

"And in Liaodong, wasn't Wu Gao called a famous general by those military attachés? How come he couldn't even defend [-] guards and handed over tens of thousands of stones of grain to Zhu Gaoxu in vain!!"

In the Wuying Hall of the Forbidden City, Zhu Yunwen rarely lost his composure, but no one could calm down in such a situation.

The ministers who had sworn to themselves a month ago that the plan to cut Yan Yan would be successful now all lowered their heads. Only Yu Xin stood there as if it had nothing to do with him.

Zhu Yunwen looked at him very dazzlingly, but he also knew that Yu Xin's talent in supervising the household department was irreplaceable, so he could only ignore him.

"Your Majesty, the failure of the vassal reduction in Peiping was all due to Zhang Xin's surrender to the enemy. As for the failure of the vassal reduction in Liaodong and the capture of [-] guards, it was clearly written in the memorial."

Although Qi Tai knew the real reason for the failure of vassal reduction, he was still looking for compensation for Zhu Yunzhen and remonstrated:
  "The common people of Bohai secretly hoarded horses during the reign of Emperor Gao, so their marching speed was much faster than our army. Although Wu Gao had taken precautions, losing [-] guards was inevitable."

"Because he was prepared early, tens of thousands of troops were not trapped outside the pass, and the food of the [-] guards was not lost as much as expected."

"As long as he sticks to Tieling for a month as stated in the memorial, the common people of Bohai will eventually be defeated and captured."

"If the only people we should care about should be the Yan common people who live in Beiping."

Qi Tai collected his thoughts and saw that Zhu Yunwen also turned his attention to himself. He continued: "The Yan common people should have no less than [-] soldiers and horses. Excluding the soldiers and horses stationed in various cities, the number that can be mobilized is no less than [-]. Twenty thousand.”

"Right now, Fang Zhao and others have gathered troops at Yongguan. The two groups have more than [-] troops. In addition to the troops of the Kaiping Five Guards that have not yet been transferred to the south, they should be able to gather [-] troops."

"With Fang Zhao and the others in the Juyongguan area, they can contain Zhu Di's [-] troops and horses."

"A few months ago, His Majesty had transferred Chang Xinghou to Kaiping, and Commander Xu Kai to Hejian."

"Currently Kaifeng has gathered [-] troops from Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Huguang and Zhili. Commander Xu Kai also led [-] cavalry to garrison in Hejian Mansion."

"As long as your majesty issues a decree and the army is ready with food and grass to march north, the common people of Yan will be in peace soon."

"The thieves, father and son, only have [-] or [-] troops. How can they resist the imperial army of nearly [-] people?"

Qitai's plan was very good, and the ministers who were originally demoralized also boosted their morale.

Seeing this, Zhu Yunwen regained his composure slightly and calmly issued an order: "It is hereby decreed that the Marquis of Changxing, Geng Bingwen, is appointed as the general to conquer the captives. Li Jian, the prince-in-law, and the commander-in-chief, Ning Zhong, are the deputy generals. It is necessary to divide the troops and advance to the Northern Expedition before winter. Put down the rebellion of the common people of Yan."

"Your Majesty..." Zhu Yunwen just finished speaking, and Yu Xin, who had been silent until now, spoke.

The ministers turned their attention to him, and Yu Xin bowed and said: "Half a month ago, Dao Ganmeng surrendered and rebelled again. The Yunnan capital is already running out of food and grass. It is necessary to allocate food and grass from Guangxi, Huguang, Sichuan and other capitals. Please allow your Majesty's approval. allow."

"Here we go again..." Listening to these annoying and troublesome things, Zhu Yunwen, who was the emperor's grandson before, could still deal with them calmly, but when he sat on the throne of the emperor, he looked back at these rebellion memorials. , he just felt extremely annoyed.

He had only been on the throne for a year, but the chieftains in the southwest rebelled, Zhu Di and his son rebelled in the north, and many barbarian Tartar officials rebelled in the area. I don't know how the emperor calmly faced this situation.

"That's right!" Zhu Yunwen waved his sleeves and agreed, and Qitai also reported good news.

"Your Majesty, Chief Military Officer Song Sheng has sent news that the Hu people were in turmoil in the royal court a month ago. The Tatar Khan Elbek was killed by the Oara King Ugqiha Shiha. The Hu people were in turmoil and were unable to move south."

"Okay!" After hearing the good news, Zhu Yunwen was finally cheered up and began to order in an orderly manner.

"I order the Duke of Wei to put down the rebellion as soon as possible. In addition, I order Wu Gao to defend Tieling to the death and not let the common people of Bohai cross Tieling."

"Your Majesty Shengming..."

Seeing Zhu Yunwen's appearance, the officials sang salutes one after another. However, when they were singing salutes and cheering, Zhu Gaoxu also arrived at the [-] Guards with his [-] soldiers and horses.

The flags are fluttering and rustling in the wind.

More than [-] Bohai troops arrived and camped outside Thirty Thousand Guards City. The more than [-] Liaodong officers and soldiers who followed the army south finally returned to Liaodong. Most of their families were in Thirty Thousand Guards, so they came here and confirmed that their families were fine. They quickly returned to camp to show their surrender.

Including them and the original defenders of [-] guards, Zhu Gaoxu's Jingnan army has reached [-].

"Your Highness, fortunately you have fulfilled your mission!"

In the yamen of the commander of the Thirty Thousand Guards, when Liu Zhao handed over the "Yellow Book" and "Food Book" representing the Thirty Thousand Guards, Zhu Gaoxu did not break his promise and immediately said: "From today on, you are the commander of the Thirty Thousand Guards." Envoy, those who go south with you, and those who open the door of convenience to you, will all be promoted according to my promise!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!!"

Behind Liu Zhao, many familiar faces of Zhu Gaoxu bowed. It was obvious that their help was indispensable for Liu Zhao to successfully capture the [-] Guards.

"The three thousand soldiers in the Thirty Thousand Guards and the more than one thousand soldiers who went north before will be put under your command. If you get promoted and have no soldiers, don't worry. Wu Gao has nothing to be afraid of. You will have your own soldiers and horses soon!" "

After Zhu Gaoxu made his promise, he also took his seat in the yamen and motioned for them to sit down.

Some people with lower official positions than commanders resigned, and in the end, only [-] commanders were left, including the Eight Jurchen Guards, the Fifth Guards of the Han Army, and the Third Battalion of Shenji.

Looking at this strong team, Zhu Gaoxu was overjoyed.

He read the two books in front of everyone and got a general understanding of the situation of Thirty Thousand Guards.

"Transport [-] shi of grain northward to Jilin City. Liu Zhao, please send [-] troops to escort it."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Liu Zhao, gave him instructions, and then continued: "The remaining [-] shi of grain and [-] shi of bean feed, leaving [-] shi of grain for the soldiers and civilians of the [-] guards in case of emergency. We’ll take the rest with us.”

Zhu Gaoxu arranged everything. This batch of grain and beans could feed the entire army for almost half a month.

Counting the previous consumption, they should still be able to last about forty days.

Within forty days, he must capture Wu Gao.

"Organize the troops for training, and search the [-] merchants in the acropolis. If there are merchants who are escorting the grain, allocate the [-] guan of money from the treasury to them and purchase their grain."

Zhu Gaoxu explained, but Liu Zhao bowed and said: "Your Highness, the general has already checked. There are twelve branches of merchants in the city, but all the food has been bought by the southern soldiers in advance. Now, except for the food in the hands of the military households, only the government is left." That’s it in the library.”

"It's okay..." After hearing the news, Zhu Gaoxu didn't care. Instead, he told Sun Cheng, the chief historian who followed him south: "You and your group of people will help [-] Wei people to remove their military status from now on." , restore citizenship."

"In addition, according to the old rules, [-] elite soldiers were selected from the more than [-] people currently, and each was given ten acres of land to join the army. The remaining more than [-] acres of cultivated land were all distributed to the more than [-] people in the city, and cattle were used for farming. Draft horses are also issued according to the rules of Jilin City."

"If there are not enough oxen and horses, we can transfer them from Jilin City and bring the horses and oxen while the grain is being transported."

There are [-] people in Jilin City, but there are more than [-] cattle, horses, and mules in total. The city is already very saturated. It is not a big deal to take a few thousand head south.

"Your Highness, after the land is equalized, what will happen to the food of [-] soldiers?"

Sun Cheng asked the key question. You must know that it is difficult to obtain food in Bohai. Therefore, Bohai only needs to record the number of fields for each household. It does not need to distribute food according to the output of the fields, but uniformly hand over the rations.

Such a big-pot meal system was only suitable for Bohai during the land reclamation period, but not for Thirty Thousand Guards, because the fields of Thirty Thousand Guards included not only military garrisons, but also spare fields belonging to military households.

Although Yutian was heavily taxed, at least the grain harvested belonged to the families of the military households. This was a phenomenon that had never happened in the Bohai Sea.

Sun Cheng asked, that is, he asked Zhu Gaoxu whether he wanted to set Bohai's own tax system.

Zhu Gao had already thought about this issue on the way to the customs, so he said: "Starting from this autumn harvest, each household will harvest grain from their own fields, and the official tax will be levied on each acre of land. One tax will be given to each of the five, and all other past miscellaneous taxes will be discarded.”

　The second update should be finished around [-] o'clock, because I need to show you the situation map of Sandusi, so the update will be a little later.
  　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)