Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 262 The Capital is Shocked

"Dang...dang..."

Late at night, when the gong kept ringing, a pass not far from the sea and close to the river in the south appeared on the plain.

The howling sea breeze and river breeze collide, making this place very cold late at night.

Even so, the soldiers on duty did not dare to neglect it at all, just because the location was very important.

Yunti Pass, as the first customs in Chinese history, has been the most important coastal defense town in the past dynasties from the Tang Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty. It is known as the first pass on the southeast coast and the first pass on the Jianghuai Plain.

As the estuary of the Huaihe River, it is both lucky and unfortunate.

Its luck is that it has been valued by people since the Tang Dynasty. Its misfortune began when the Yellow River diverted the Huaihe River and entered the sea more than 200 years ago.

Since the Yellow River takes the Huai River and flows into the sea, the Huai River will help the Yellow River wash away a large amount of sediment to the lower reaches every year, causing the coastline to continue to move eastward.

Today's Yunti Pass was a pass rebuilt in the sixth year of Hongwu's reign, but even in the past twenty-two years, it once relied on the estuary, but now it is four miles away from the estuary.

In twenty-two years, hundreds of thousands of acres of tidal flats were washed out of the Huanghuai River.

Yunti Pass had no choice but to build an earthen city every ten years to prepare for the future relocation of Yunti Pass.

So far, two earth cities have been built here, and Yunti Pass itself is a structure of rammed earth and bricks.

Although the method of ramming earth and bricks is not as strong as the bluestone fortress in the inner city of the capital, it is still enough to defend against the two thousand kilograms of Hongwu iron cannon. Therefore, Yunti Pass has never been the first choice for Japanese pirates to attack cholera.

In addition, the Yellow River diverted the Huaihe River into the sea, causing the Jianghuai area to become a yellow flood area. There was no longer the prosperity of the Han and Tang Dynasties, so the Japanese pirates would not be interested in it.

"The Japanese pirates have all been wiped out by Governor Yang Wen, and we don't know who we are guarding against here."

After closing the ladder, looking at the gray sky, the two soldiers who knew it would be dawn soon also started chatting.

They didn't think anyone would attack Yunti Pass. After all, it was notoriously easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Although there was a fierce quarrel between Yan Ni and the Bohai rebels in the north, they were only limited to Peiping and Shandong, and were still far away from the defenders of Yunti Pass.

Therefore, not only the two of them, but also the other defenders were very slack. Although the newly arrived Sheng Qianshi sent two thousand additional troops to Yunti Pass, leaving Yunti Pass with 3,000 defenders, they still did not think that anyone could cross it. Ganyu, Haizhou, Xinba, Huize and other places in the north came to attack Yunti Pass.

Their laxity gave Zhu Gaoxu a chance.

Taking advantage of the gray sky, a ship began to appear on the sea.

Such a scene was not noticed by the defenders of Yunti Pass. It was not until the ship was almost entering the mouth of the Huanghuai River that someone discovered it and sounded the alarm.

"Dang...dang...dang..."

"There is an enemy coming from the river mouth!!"

"Beep--"

Alarm bells, reminders, and whistles kept sounding, waking up many soldiers who were still lying in bed after getting up.

They put on their armor and started to ascend Guancheng with their weapons. The artillery on the archery tower began to adjust its direction, and the muzzles that were originally facing the north were pointed at the mouth of the Huanghuai River.

On an archery tower, a flag soldier tried to call a flag, but found that the other party did not respond to him at all.

Large ships sailed into the Huanghuai River estuary one after another, and then...

"Boom boom boom——"

"Enemy attack!!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The roaring sound of cannons and the roaring shells gave Yunti Pass the best response.

The roaring iron cannonballs hit the city wall covered with rammed earth and bricks, and dense cracks suddenly appeared.

The ship kept approaching, and finally anchored two miles away from Yunti Pass.

The two-mile-wide mouth of the Yellow River became their position. The warships fired one after another and poured their shells at the head of Yuntiguan City.

"Go! Go and send a message quickly, saying that there are hundreds of Japanese pirate warships besieging Yunti Pass. Please Sheng Qianshi send troops to help as soon as possible!"

"Send a homing pigeon or send a knight?"

"Do it all! Send it all! Hurry!"

Yuntiguan was stunned. It had not encountered any war since the seventh year of Hongwu. Many soldiers were stationed soldiers who only trained twice a month even a month and a half ago.

If Sheng Yong hadn't arrived at the Huaihe defense line and expedited training for a month, they would have been panicked and didn't know what to do.

"Fire back!"

The commander of Yunti Pass issued an order, and soon the arrow towers all over Yunti Pass also lit up with fire. Heavy Hongwu iron cannons began to fire back, but to no avail.

It was still dark, and they could not see whether the stone bullet hit the enemy ship or not.

All they can do is keep fighting back, and in this way...

"Bang bang bang-"

Suddenly, the whizzing artillery shells launched a concentrated counterattack towards the exposed Hongwu iron artillery fort. Although the accuracy was not great, due to the density, three or five iron artillery shells still fell into the arrow tower, turning into ricochet and continuously harvesting. The lives of the gunners on the arrow tower.

More than a dozen warships on the Yellow Sea channel bombarded the arrow towers and wall stacks of Yunti Pass with all their strength. Wall stacks continued to collapse, exposing the soldiers to the unobstructed horse road.

Faced with this fierce bombardment, the three thousand defenders at Yunti Pass were unable to fight back.

Every time they shelled, they exposed the position of their own artillery, and then suffered intensive attacks.

It only takes a quarter of an hour for the "Japanese pirate" warships to fire hundreds of artillery shells at an archery tower. Even if only one tenth of the hit is achieved, the walls of the archery tower can be destroyed, making the gunners afraid to go up to the archery tower to operate the artillery to fight back.

Time was passing, and the defenders of Yunti Pass were still unable to cause harm to the 'Japanese pirates' on the Huanghuai Waterway. They could only watch the sky turn from gray to bright, and watch the stacks of their own city walls being continuously destroyed.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, the "Japanese pirates" warships finally stopped shelling, but the east and north walls of Yunti Pass were not intact.

At this time, a soldier finally poked his head out, and he only took one look before his eyes widened.

"They are not Japanese pirates, they are our people!"

"Why would our people attack us?!"

The guard of Yunti Pass stretched out his hand and hit the soldier's helmet, and then bravely took a look.

Just one glance made him panic: "It's not our people, it's... it's the Bohai Navy. The Bohai Navy has reached Yunti Pass!"

His voice was heard by many soldiers, and at this moment, the sound of intensive horse hooves suddenly came from outside Yunti Pass.

Many soldiers heard the sound and ran to the north, only to see a mass of 'cavalry' appearing outside Yunti Pass, completely surrounding Yunti Pass.

In front of tens of thousands of cavalry, Yunti Pass was as small as a small boat on the sea.

"Li Jinglong has been defeated by my Highness. He still wants to see his fellow Confederate brothers. If he doesn't want to continue to be bombarded, he should open the city and surrender. We are only going south this time to flank the Qing Emperor and kill the traitors."

Outside the city, several cavalrymen came forward to speak, and his words were heard by the defenders of Yunti Pass.

The guard general of Yunti Gate who was still hiding during the bombardment heard this and immediately shot at those people with his bow and arrow.

"When the city is alive, people are still there; when the city is gone, people are still alive!"

He shouted bravely, but after the cavalry turned their horses and returned to the formation, he saw Bohai's soldiers and horses beginning to retreat.

Before he could be happy, more than a dozen warships on the Huanghuai Waterway launched another bombardment after a quarter of an hour's rest.

"Boom boom boom——"

Yunti Pass is very strong, but this strength is for the siege equipment of this era, not for the cannons of the Bohai Navy.

As naval guns loaded with ammunition weighing ten to twenty kilograms continued to launch bombardments, the bricks covering Yunti Pass began to fall and crack, exposing the rammed earth inside.

For iron cannonballs, as long as the bricks are broken, the rammed earth inside is equivalent to soft and tender tofu.

At this moment, Yunti Pass encountered unprecedented changes.

But for Zhu Gaoxu, this siege speed was still too slow.

"It will take at least two days to capture Yunti Pass by attacking the city like this."

On horseback, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Meng Zhang: "Take a thousand cavalry to the beach, and let Chenggong send you across the river with a warship worth 1,500 materials."

"One day is enough to send a thousand people south."

"After arriving in Henan, we immediately collected enough ferries. I'm worried that the Yunti Gatekeeper will burn down the ferries on the north bank."

"Yes!" Meng Zhang bowed and listened to the order, then ordered a thousand cavalry to set off.

Time passed little by little, from early morning to dusk, and several holes were finally made in the rammed earth-brick city wall of Yunti Pass, and the holes continued to get bigger during the bombardment.

At this time, Youtang Qi suddenly returned from the east, bringing not very good news.

"Your Highness, Governor Zhu sent someone to spread the news in flag language. The number of iron cannonballs in the naval guns is less than five bases."

"If there are not enough shells for naval guns, we will use field guns and siege guns. I don't believe we can't win the Yunti Pass!"

Zhu Gaoxu replied to Tangqi, who bowed in response, turned his horse and returned to the east to spread the news.

"How about building siege equipment?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Ta Shi, who also bowed quickly: "The ten nest carts pulled from the ship have been built and can be used to attack the city at any time."

"The whole army attacks the city!" Zhu Gaoxu ignored the fact that it was already dusk and ordered the attack because what he lacked now was time.

Ta Shi did not refute, and immediately began to order the eight Jurchen guards to put on armor and prepare to attack the city.

A quarter of an hour later, braving artillery shells, ten nest vehicles were pushed to the Yunti Pass, and the elite Jurchen Eight Guards horse infantry began to penetrate armor and attack the city.

As they began to attack the city, the warships on the east side received the semaphore and began to stop the bombardment.

The defenders of Yunti Pass were still rejoicing that the bombardment had stopped when they saw the boarding board of the chao chariot hit the incomplete wall stacks. A dozen Bohai soldiers who had climbed onto the top floor of the chao chariot climbed to the top of the city holding Guduo and golden melon hammers. "The enemy is attacking the city, so all get on the road to prepare for the enemy!"

The guard general of Yunti Pass still did not abandon the idea of ​​​​Yunti Pass, but instead led three thousand troops to defend the city.

He personally led the Yuntiguan soldiers onto the horse path, brandished his sword into battle, and commanded the soldiers to hold on tenaciously.

The battle was extremely fierce. After hundreds of soldiers from the Eight Jurchen Guards boarded the city, the Yunti Pass defenders, who had only stepped up training for a month, were unable to fight with them.

Although they were large in number, as the number of Bohai navy climbing onto the city gradually increased, countless of them fell in the fierce offensive.

Relying on the city wall without butts, the defenders of Yunti Pass not only had to face the Eight Jurchen Guards on the horse road, but also had to face the Shenji Battalion holding large matchlock guns and arranging guns under the city.

In just a quarter of an hour, the defenders of Yunti Pass were wiped out, hundreds of three thousand defenders were beheaded, and more than two thousand people surrendered.

As Zhu Gaoxu expected, the Yunti Pass guard finally sent people to burn the ferry. Fortunately, Zhu Gaoxu was prepared, so the ferry was not burned too much.

The sun had already sunk into the plain to the west, but when Zhu Gaoxu saw this, he said:

"The boat with 1,500 materials anchored in the river, lit the torch, and covered the army's crossing!"

He was racing against time and could not lose any time.

There are hundreds of three- to four-foot-long Bailiu ferries, which can escort thousands of people across the river at one time, and can also escort hundreds of horses across the river.

Zhu Gaoxu handed over the matter of crossing the river to Meng Zhang, and took the lead in crossing the river to reach the ferry on the south bank.

It seems that they learned that the Bohai Navy was heading south, and not many people were left at the ferry. The thousand leading cavalry led by Meng Zhang had already occupied the ferry.

After finding an empty house, Zhu Gaoxu fell down and began to rest.

But while he was resting and the Bohai Navy was crossing the river, the message sent by the Yunti Pass guard also successfully reached Muyang, one hundred and twenty miles away.

After receiving the news, Sheng Yong quickly ordered his troops and horses. He thought it was Japanese pirates besieging the city. He was about to lead his troops to Yunti Pass. However, when he learned that it was not Japanese pirates but the Bohai Navy who besieged Yunti Pass, he thought He was blank for a moment, and then he reacted.

"The whole army marches towards the water post of the ancient city of Cui Town. They must arrive at the water post of the ancient city before dawn. In addition, the post must prepare enough sand boats to report the news to the capital. At the same time, they send Tangqi to Dezhou and release homing pigeons to tell Duke Cao that the common people in the Bohai Sea are going around. After passing Rizhao and Ganyu, I’m afraid I’ve already captured Yunti Pass!”

Sheng Yong's judgment was correct. Zhu Gaoxu could only bypass Rizhao, Ganyu, Haizhou and other places, and it was impossible to attack by force.

If it was a forced attack, it was impossible for him not to receive the message.

Judging from the news reported by the guard of Yunti Pass, Yunti Pass will definitely not be able to be defended. There are navy, artillery and more than 40,000 people in the Bohai Sea. The fall of Yunti Pass will only take a day or two.

He should immediately go south with the 60,000 people in his hands and go straight to Yangzhou.

Only by heading straight to Yangzhou can he be able to advance and retreat without being cut off by the Bohai Navy's cavalry from the connection between Jianghuai and Jiangnan.

Sheng Yong's movements were very fast. After gathering all 60,000 troops, they carried armor on their backs and rushed towards Shuiyi, an ancient city more than 70 miles away, on foot.

They traveled all night and finally arrived at the ancient city Shuiyi before dawn. Dozens of sand ships were already prepared here, each of which could transport a hundred people south.

"The two guards on the left and right of Yu Lin will get on the boat first and go to Yangzhou. The rest will rest along the street in Shuiyi for three hours. After three hours, they will continue walking south to Taoyuan County, thirty miles away, and let Taoyuan County prepare sand ships."

Sheng Yong made arrangements in an orderly manner. Although he only trained for a month, he still had the foundation to station troops, and with a little training he would be able to fight in the field.

Of course, the prerequisite for their field battle is that they must have a backbone, and this backbone is the left and right guards of Yulin.

At present, Yulin's left and right guards were joined by other soldiers who were staying in Beijing, totaling 20,000 people.

As long as the 20,000 people do not collapse, the garrison will not collapse.

Sheng Yong is very confident in the two guards on the left and right of Yulin who he personally trained.

However, his confidence was incomprehensible to Zhu Yunwen. At this moment, Zhu Yunwen's mind went blank.

"Have you crossed the Huaihe River?"

In the Hall of Wuying, Zhu Yunwen, who was discussing tax adjustments in the south of the Yangtze River with the six ministers, suddenly heard the news that Zhu Gaoxu led his troops to Yunti Pass, captured Yunti Pass, and crossed the Huaihe River.

When the news came, he immediately panicked.

He had been sent to Jiangbei by Lao Zhu, so he naturally knew the distance between the Huaihe River and the capital.

If we take the official road from Yuntiguan to the capital via Ma Yi or Shui Yi, we can reach the capital within six hundred miles at most.

"It's ridiculous. The common people of Bohai were still in Zhucheng seven days ago. How come they arrived at Yunti Pass in just seven days?"

"Did the guard at Yunlai Gate make a mistake?"

Huang Zicheng was also stunned for a while, but he quickly came to his senses and started questioning the matter of delivering the letter to the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army.

However, in the face of Huang Zicheng's questioning, Na Qianshi ignored it and just reported to Zhu Yunwen:

"Your Majesty, Sheng Qianshi has led 60,000 soldiers and horses south along the canal. They should arrive at the ancient city of Shuiyi now. It only takes about three days to reach Yangzhou to prepare for the enemy."

"In addition, Commander Sheng has sent news to Duke Cao. If Cao Guogong has led his troops to Dezhou, they should be able to reach Yangzhou in fifteen days."

Qian Shi was explaining the situation, but Huang Zicheng saw that he was not paying attention to him, so he immediately asked:

"The Fifth Army Governor's Mansion actually allowed the rebels to enter Huai'an Mansion. Should we now let them enter Yangzhou Mansion?"

"This is where the rebels took a detour. Although our army set up defenses, the rebels were hiding day and night and could not detect it..." Governor Qianshi lowered his head. Huang Zicheng was overjoyed when he saw this, and wanted to take advantage of the victory to pursue him, but Zhu Yunwen interrupted. .

"Will the bandits cross the Yangtze River?"

His words immediately plunged the hall into deathly silence. Even Huang Zicheng, who had jumped before, closed his mouth and waited nervously for someone to answer.

At this time, many people turned their attention to Qi Tai, and Qi Tai was also very helpless.

He had already said that Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di should be taken down from the beginning, and then started to reduce the other vassals, but no one listened to him.

It's fine now. Although he doesn't know how Zhu Gaoxu dared to go deep alone, he knows how much Zhu Gaoxu's crossing of the Huaihe River will shock the court.

"Although the pirate army's navy is sharp, the Yangtze River is naturally dangerous. Even if our navy is defeated, there are still more than 120 Japanese forts placed by Emperor Taizu Gao."

"Even if these forts are useless, our army will go with the current and the rebel army will go against the current. At that time, we only need to recruit many ferries from Yangzhou and the capital, place gunpowder and kerosene, and sail down the river in groups. Faced with such a powerful force, the enemy navy will It can only sink in Haikou."

Not to mention Qitai, anyone who knows the military knows how easy it is to attack the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the lower reaches.

Except for the negative example of Chen Youliang who exploited Poyang Lake, when the upstream is controlled, even if the national power is not as good as the downstream, it can still maintain a stalemate with the enemy downstream.

This is true both upstream and downstream, not to mention Haikou and Jiangdao.

Throughout the ages, no one has tried to invade the Yangtze River from the sea, but these people have basically failed. The reason is that ships enter the Yangtze River from the seaport upstream, and it is too easy for the defenders to deal with the enemy at the seaport.

Not to mention that there are currently more than 10,000 Southern Navy naval forces stationed in Chongming Shazhou, and the Bohai Sea Navy has to get past them if it wants to make a surprise attack.

Even if they are defeated, as long as the Confederate Navy enters the Yangtze River waterway, especially after controlling the Zhenjiang water section, the Bohai Sea Navy will never even think about entering the Yangtze River, because the terrain here is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the river is narrow. Once the upper reaches are released, Enough fireships and there's no room to hide downstream.

Qi Tai has his own self-confidence. As long as Chen Xuan's navy is there, the Yangtze River will not be lost and the Bohai Navy will not be able to cross the river.

Zhu Gaoxu went deep alone this time, and it might be difficult for him to get out.

"If that's the case, then I'll be relieved."

After receiving Qitai's reply, Zhu Yunwen breathed a sigh of relief and asked:

"Right now, there are only 60,000 soldiers and horses in Sheng Yong's army in the north of the Yangtze River. Should we send Duke Cao to the south?"

"Your Majesty, you should send Duke Cao to the south!" Huang Zicheng said quickly:

"Although the Bohai Pirate Army only has 40,000 to 50,000 people, it is a soldier who is good at fighting after all."

"The immediate priority should be to mobilize the 300,000 troops from the north to defend Jinan and Yanzhou, and at the same time order the counties in Peiping to defend themselves. After Cao Guogong leads the 300,000 troops to go south and destroy the territory in fifteen days, then go north to counterattack."

Huang Zicheng's words sounded very insightful to the officials of the Six Ministries, but to Qitai they sounded like farts.

"It's okay for the 100,000 troops from Texas to move south in 15 days, but if the 200,000 troops along the Baigou River want to move south, it will take at least two months."

Qi Tai had no choice but to stand up and bow and said: "What's more, if the army from the north moves south, it will be difficult to resist the Yan army with the strength of the counties in Peiping. By then, if Yan Ni is only satisfied with Peiping, it will be okay. If he is not satisfied, If we go to Peiping, but continue to move south after swallowing Peiping, the 300,000 troops of Cao Guogong will be attacked from both sides."

"If the people of the Bohai Sea block the canal by then, it will be absolutely difficult to supply 300,000 troops and one million civilians with the power of the Central Plains alone."

"I'm afraid Shangshu Qi is exaggerating." Fang Xiaoru stood up and said:

"As Qi Shangshu said, Chen Xuan's navy is enough to defend the Yangtze River, so the Bohai pirate army will lose the advantage of the navy, and our army can calmly protect the canal, so that grain from the south of the Yangtze River can be continuously transported to Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and Jinan."

"How could the Bohai Pirate Army cut off the canal under such circumstances?"

Fang Xiaoru didn't understand military matters, but he found a loophole in Qi Tai's words. Qi Tai was so angry that he clenched his fists and his joints were livid.

How long has it been? These guys are still choosing their own words. Shouldn't the current problem be to solve Zhu Gaoxu in Jiangbei?

Qi Tai was too lazy to refute and bowed directly to Zhu Yunwen:

"Your Majesty, if we really want to mobilize troops, we should order Cao Guogong to take over Baigouhe, and then order Jiangyin Marquis Wu Gao to take over the elite Shangzhi troops in Dezhou."

"In addition, our army has no cavalry in the north of the Yangtze River. We must mobilize more than 10,000 cavalrymen from the Yuexi Marquis and Ping'an troops to go south. Only in this way can Sheng Yong hold on until the Jiangyin Marquis leads 60,000 elite soldiers to rush south for reinforcements."

Qi Tai knew very well that if Li Jinglong was to lead his troops south, no matter who Wu Gao, Wu Jie, or Xu Kai were in the north, they would not be able to handle an army of 200,000.

Instead, it was more in line with the actual situation to let Wu Gao lead 60,000 elite troops to go south, and let Yu Tongyuan and Ping An go south to stay with Sheng Yong first.

There is no problem for Wu Gao to command 60,000 people, and there is no need to question Sheng Yong's ability. There is no problem for him to lead 60,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry to limit the Bohai Sea.

As long as he holds on until Wu Gao goes south and the two armies converge, there is no reason why the 130,000-strong army will lose to Zhu Gaoxu no matter how hard it fights.

Thinking of this, Qi Tai stared at Zhu Yunwen, fearing that his majesty would choose to listen to Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru's lies.

"This..." Zhu Yunwen thought about the three people's suggestions, and finally thought of his grandfather's instructions, so he looked at Qi Tai: "Just do what Mr. Qi wants..."

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty!" Qitai knelt on the ground holding the wat board, and the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

"In this case, it should be no problem..."

Qitai was relieved and thought that there was no big problem with his arrangement.

But for Zhu Gaoxu, his fifteenth day was too long...

　"Bohai Chronicles": At the end of March, Shanggu's army entered Huai'an, pulled up Yunti Pass, entered Huainan, and Jiangnan was shaken.

　　"Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In the third month of Guimao, the superiors led their troops down from the cities, and all the counties along the way surrendered. Only Yunti Pass defended itself. The superiors attacked the city with artillery, then captured the city, crossed the Huanghuai River and entered Yangzhou, and the world was shaken. .”

　　

　

(End of this chapter)