Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 270 The troops are approaching the city

"Today is twelve, right?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

In the empty wine shop in Wanshou Town, Zhu Gaoxu stood on the corridor and looked at the battlefield where the plum rain was falling, and subconsciously asked Chen Chang.

Chen Chang answered subconsciously, and Zhu Gaoxu also said: "According to time, Yang Zhan and Xu Sheng should have passed by Longtan Shuiyi."

"At most, they will be able to arrive at Jiangning Town early tomorrow morning, and their troops will be divided into three groups to encircle the three roads leading south from the capital to break through."

"Yes, this day has finally come." Chen Chang sighed. After all, the Bohai education they received also included loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. Regarding the civil war, except for the Jurchen Eight Guards who had not received education, the others still had some resistance in their hearts. of.

But the day when the civil war ends is finally coming. As long as the last two days are passed safely, the overall situation of the world will be settled.

"Are Meng Zhang and others from Baogang ready?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked, and Chen Chang nodded: "There are still some military horses that have not arrived, but there should be no problem if they arrive before tonight, that is..."

Chen Chang glanced at the plum rain outside the wine shop and expressed worry: "If this plum rain continues until late at night, I'm afraid it will be difficult for all four thousand cavalry to complete the 140 miles."

"Even if only half of them can reach Nanjing City, it will be enough time in terms of time." Zhu Gaoxu squinted his eyes and looked at the Southern Army cavalry camp to the north.

Although it was far away, he could tell that the Confederate cavalry had no intention of sending troops today.

This is not surprising. In the early Ming Dynasty, cavalry was very valuable. As generals, few people dared to use cavalry continuously during the rainy season.

This is not only true for the Ming Dynasty, but also for the early Tang Dynasty when there were more cavalry than the Ming Dynasty.

Li Shimin and Yu Chigong discussed the issue of whether to use cavalry after the rain. Yu Chigong believed that the land was muddy after the rain, and the use of cavalry would rot the horses' hooves, and the gain would outweigh the loss.

However, facing his idea, Li Shimin held a veto attitude, believing that as long as he could win and the results were large enough, it would be worth losing thousands of horses.

The dialogue between the two actually represents the attitude of being a general and being a king.

As a general, you cannot regard soldiers and horses as your own property. Once too many soldiers and horses are lost, even if you have merit, it will not be worth the merit.

On the other hand, as long as the king can win the victory, no matter how many soldiers and horses are lost, as long as the king feels that it is worth it, then there is no such thing.

Just like yesterday, Sheng Yong and Yu Tongyuan lost at least three to four thousand people, but now they are still leading troops to fight here. This is all because Zhu Yunwen gave them military orders for sending out troops yesterday, and they only focused on executing them, even if there were some casualties. , Zhu Yunwen could not punish them, after all, he issued the military order.

If he punishes Sheng Yong, Yu Tongyuan and others, it will slap him in the face, which is equivalent to saying that his decision-making was wrong.

For the face-saving Zhu Yunwen, it is absolutely impossible for him to admit that he made a mistake in his decision-making.

However, after suffering yesterday's losses, Zhu Yunwen, no matter how eager he was for success, did not dare to continue to lose more than 60,000 Jianghuai soldiers and horses.

If these 60,000 people are all wiped out before Wu Gao and Li Jian go south, things will be very serious.

"The Tangqi sent out yesterday should be able to arrive at Haimen today, right?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Chen Chang, who nodded: "With a distance of two hundred miles, and one person and three horses, we should be able to arrive at Haimen around Shenshi (15 o'clock). By then, if Chen Xuan and Yang Qiu are sincere in their surrender, they should be able to let go At the mouth of the Yangtze River, swim upstream with Zheng Jun."

"Judging from the speed at which Yang Zhan and others are traveling upstream, they will be able to reach our army south of the Yangtze River in about five days and escort our army across the river to Nanjing."

"But compared to them, after Cui Jun delivers the last batch of military horses to Baogang today, he will continue to go upstream and will probably reach our army's Jiangnan at dusk tomorrow."

"Although their scale is not large, they can still make three trips a day to send our troops to Zhenjiang in the south."

Chen Chang explained the situation, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded: "How many horses and infantry can be sent three times?"

"There should be six thousand people." After Chen Chang said this, Zhu Gaoxu also felt relieved.

After surviving today, tomorrow will be the day when he surrounds the capital and watches Zhu Yunwen perform his last opera.

"The overall situation has been decided. Let Fei Ge go to Dengzhou and ask Yishiha to lead Dengzhou's 2,000 horse infantry to Baoding to prepare to recruit the 200,000 troops under Li Jinglong's command."

"I will send the imperial edict 800 miles north as soon as possible, so he doesn't have to worry."

Zhu Gaoxu mentioned the imperial edict, which made Chen Chang pause.

He glanced at Zhu Gaoxu cautiously and said tentatively: "Your Highness, many brothers have been discussing the throne recently."

"Our army captured the most cities during this Jingnan incident. We defeated the Southern Army no less than His Highness King Yan. We also conquered the capital..."

Chen Chang didn't finish his words because he saw Zhu Gaoxu glance at him and immediately closed his mouth.

"You are all meritorious officials, and you will deserve no less titles and rewards. As for the throne, it is my family matter, so you don't have to worry."

Zhu Gaoxu's words are far-fetched. After all, the Bohai generals are betting on him. Zhu Di's ascension to the throne is a kind of uncertainty for everyone. Who knows whether Zhu Di will clean Bohai in the future.

Although at the moment, the Yan army is obviously not as powerful as the Bohai army, after Zhu Di became emperor, he could mobilize too many resources.

If Zhu Gaoxu hadn't said "don't worry" at the end, Chen Chang would have suspected that his highness was being a little foolish and filial.

"Just wait with peace of mind. Any decision I make will be based on the interests of all the brothers. You don't have to worry."

"Besides, my father is not a narrow-minded person. If you don't believe me, you can ask Wang Yi."

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and walked out of the restaurant. Chen Chang, who was left behind, bowed to his back when he saw this.

After Zhu Gaoxu went downstairs, Chen Chang stood there and thought for a long time. After a while, he saw a few 'sneaky' figures appearing at the top of the stairs.

"Chen Chang, how is the matter?"

Ta Shi, Dole and Qi, Nimacha, Talachi and others cautiously walked into the wine shop and asked Chen Chang.

When Chen Chang heard this, he could only tell Zhu Gaoxu's original words, and then said: "Since His Highness said so, we can rest assured. After all, His Highness never does anything that is uncertain."

"What's more, regarding this trip south, His Highness did not communicate secretly with King Yan. His Highness cannot be foolish and filial. Even if King Yan becomes the emperor, Your Highness must be the prince."

"Then you have to be on guard!" Ta Shi glared: "What if King Yan is confused and wants to make that prince the crown prince?"

"That's impossible!" Chen Chang was sure, and Nimacha even said after hearing this:

"It's okay if King Yan wants to be the emperor, but His Highness must be the prince. If that doesn't work, I will personally lead the ambush troops and force King Yan to appoint His Highness as the prince!"

"it is good!"

"Nimacha, you are a man!"

Nimacha's words won applause from Ta Shi and others.

Chen Chang looked at these guys and could only sigh secretly: "These barbarians..."

He was not worried that Zhu Gaoxu would be angry after hearing such words. After all, Ta She and the others were still illiterate two years ago.

Even after two years of studying while fighting, the original habits in his body are still retained.

Many words that are treasonous and treasonous inside the customs are common and trivial outside the customs.

Zhu Gaoxu was not as knowledgeable as these semi-illiterates. If he asked them to read more someday, they would know how treasonous their words were.

"Let's all go and see the camp separately. Don't let the Confederate army touch your butt without knowing it."

Chen Chang waved his hand to drive away a few people. Ta Shi and the others did not feel that Chen Chang was rude to them. Instead, they left happily: "Our butts are not easy to touch. They are not as soft as the butts of Han people."

"You barbarian..." Chen Chang was so angry at these people that he drove them away.

However, while they were discussing the treasonous matters, Zhu Yunwen was still in an unstable mood in the capital.

He summoned Fang Xiaoru to explain classics and history to him. The two sat opposite each other in the Wuying Hall and talked from morning to dusk. Although they explained the rise and fall of the past dynasties clearly, they could not explain the current situation clearly.

"Since ancient times, I am probably the first emperor to be beaten to the Yangtze River so quickly because of the reduction of vassal status."

Zhu Yunwen lost a son. Fang Xiaoru, who was sitting opposite him, heard this and immediately comforted Zhu Yunwen:

"Your Majesty, why bother yourself? There are still hundreds of thousands of troops in the imperial court. Although the thieves briefly attacked Yangzhou, your Majesty is sitting on the natural danger of the Yangtze River. What's more, Xichuan Qu Neng and his son have already led the Xichuan troops out of Sichuan. It only takes ten days. Arrive in the capital."

"By then, Wu Gao and Li Jian from the north should also arrive at Jianghuai. Our army has no less than 200,000 troops. How can we not deal with the Bohai pirate army, which has only 40,000 troops?"

Fang Xiaoru is still stuck on paper data, but for people like Zhu Yunwen, paper data is his last fig leaf.

"His Majesty……"

As soon as Fang Xiaoru finished speaking, Li Quan walked into Wuying Hall, bowed his head and said, "Wuding Marquis Guo Ying wants to see you."

"No." Zhu Yunwen frowned and refused. Guo Ying kept asking to see him these days, but he had heard too many of his alarmist words. Zhu Yunwen himself felt a little guilty, so he simply refused to listen.

He didn't believe that with hundreds of thousands of troops, he could still be blocked in the capital by Zhu Gaoxu, who had less than 40,000 troops.

"Yes……"

Li Quan heard this and exited Wuying Palace, and saw Guo Ying wearing a python robe outside the palace.

He bowed to Guo Ying: "Wu Dinghou, Your Majesty is missing. Please go back to your home."

"Alas..." Hearing that Zhu Yunwen didn't want to see him, Guo Ying could only sigh, turn around and leave with a hunched back.

Since Zhu Gaoxu stopped in Wanshou Town and stopped taking action, Guo Ying roughly guessed that Zhu Gaoxu must have some backup plans.

In his opinion, the only back-up available to Zhu Gaoxu was the navy.

For this reason, he always reminded Zhu Yunwen to pay attention to the navy and not to criticize the navy harshly, lest the navy surrender to the enemy.

It's okay if such words come out once or twice, but if they appear every day, it's a bit destructive to one's own morale.

Since ancient times, there has never been an example of the Northern Army moving south and the Confederate Navy collectively surrendering.

No one cared what Guo Ying said, which made him feel that he was old and couldn't keep up with the times.

With his back bent, he left the Forbidden City before the end of the evening drum.

But he didn't know that at the same time that the evening drums in the Forbidden City stopped, a group of four thousand men and horses with armor on their backs successfully converged at Baogang, one hundred and forty miles away from Nanjing. Meng Zhang, who was entrusted with the important task by Zhu Gaoxu, commanded this group of troops.

Seeing Meng Zhang put his armor on his back and skillfully get on his horse, Cui Jun was full of envy: "Is this feat of attacking the city enough to get a title?"

"Your ability to cross the river can really earn you a title." Meng Zhang smiled heartily.

Perhaps with God's help, the plum rain that had been falling for a day finally stopped. Although I don't know if it will continue to rain after nightfall, for Meng Zhang and others, if it stops raining for a few hours, they can go faster. Arrive in Beijing.

"Be careful, don't be caught off guard by the Confederate army."

Cui Jun reminded, Meng Zhang also nodded and said: "There are two hundred armored brothers on each side of my army, don't worry."

"But you should hurry up. Don't wait until I surround the capital, and you haven't even touched Zhenjiang yet."

"You guy..." Cui Jun smiled helplessly. The speed of the boat against the current was too slow. It could only cover five or six miles in one hour. On the other hand, the cavalry of Meng Zhang and others could travel at least more than thirty miles in one hour.

Meng Zhang and the others ran for an hour, which was enough for Cui Jun to work hard for five or six hours.

"gone!"

Meng Zhang shook the reins of his horse and stopped wasting time with Cui Jun.

Watching him leave, Cui Jun also turned around and boarded the warship. Looking at the darkening sky, he said, "Let's go to Wanshou Water Station!"

The two parted ways, and the two troops also marched according to Zhu Gaoxu's plan.

The momentum of the four thousand cavalry attack can be described as huge. However, since Meng Zhang and others are all Jiangnan soldiers recruited by Zhu Gaoxu, their familiarity with Jiangnan is no worse than that of the southern soldiers.

In pursuit of time, Meng Zhang and the others went directly to the official road. Whenever they encountered a post station, they immediately robbed the station horses and tied up the post soldiers.

As night falls, the sky in April during the rainy season is filled with dark clouds, and the thick dark clouds obscure the light of the moonlight.

The weak flames of the torches tore through the darkness, but their light was too weak to illuminate the way forward.

Many military horses stumbled, and some soldiers also fell down and suffered serious injuries. Some unlucky military horses even broke their forelimbs and became useless horses.

Faced with such a price, the soldiers had no time to complain or be discouraged. All they could do was grit their teeth and stand up, put on the horses robbed from the inn, and follow the attacking army from a distance.

From the fourth quarter of Xu hour (20 o'clock) to the fourth quarter of Zi hour (0 o'clock), God was so grateful that it did not continue to rain, but the harsh environment still kept the Bohai Cavalry falling behind.

Meng Zhang didn't give much rest to the cavalry. They rested for a quarter of an hour every thirty miles. But even so, in only two hours, such a high-intensity march still reduced the number of Bohai cavalry by one-third. At this moment they are still half way from the finish line.

"Brother Meng, please let the brothers rest for an extra quarter of an hour. The horse can't stand it anymore!"

A commander caught up and told Meng Zhang heartbreakingly about the situation in the rear. However, in the face of his words, Meng Zhang conveyed Zhu Gaoxu's military order with a cold face.

"We must surround the capital before dawn. Even if all the horses run to death, we must do it."

"Do you want to disobey His Highness's military orders?"

"Don't dare..." Gritting his teeth, the commander slowly retreated.

An hour later, they successfully ran into Jiushili, where they hijacked the inn and fed the horse feed, fodder, and water in the inn to the horses.

The cold temperature and the fatigue of long-term exercise caused the muscles of many military horses to begin to spasm. The cavalrymen looked at their comrades in discomfort and could only help them massage the cramped areas with their hands.

Almost all the military horses were so tired that they lay on the ground. Three hours and ninety miles was beyond their capabilities, not to mention the terrible environment.

The postmen at the post station were too frightened by the menacing more than 2,000 cavalry to move. They could only watch helplessly as they carried away bags of horse materials from the treasury, split them open with knives, and ignored the things scattered on the ground. Horse feed, just grab a handful and feed your own horse.

"This is an army horse. How can you treat an army horse as an animal..."

Looking at the group of horses that were so tired that they could barely eat anything, the horseman at the inn was heartbroken. At the same time, he was also surprised as to why there were so many cavalry in the land south of the Yangtze River.

"Since you can see it, I won't hide it anymore."

Meng Zhang's words rang in the ears of Yi Cheng, who was in charge of the post. That Yi Cheng was not a fool. He naturally knew that these cavalrymen were probably not his own family. After all, they had never shown any tokens from the beginning until now.

"I don't dare... I don't dare..."

Yi Cheng responded quickly without saying anything.

"What are you afraid of?" Meng Zhang took a bite of the steamed buns steamed by the station, and then said:

"We are the cavalry of His Highness Bohai, and we are going to the capital now."

"I think you should also know that except for the capital and Zhenjiang, which still have some soldiers and horses, the rest of the country is empty, otherwise there would be no news to you until now."

Meng Zhang's words made Yi Cheng turn pale. Ever since he heard Meng Zhang's words, he knew the identities of Meng Zhang and others.

In addition, Meng Zhang's words are indeed correct. After several deployments in Jiangnan, there are not many troops left, let alone combat troops.

Therefore, if you travel overnight and avoid some counties, you can travel for dozens of miles without being known to outsiders.

But he didn't know why Meng Zhang said these words to himself.

"If you are wise, you can draft a transfer order for Zhenjiang for me. Just say that we are cavalrymen from the north of the Yangtze River and will be transferred to the south of Beijing. I can protect you and promote you afterwards."

Meng Zhang said what he wanted, but his words made Yi Cheng pale.

As a post station under Zhenjiang, he is naturally familiar with the handwriting of Zhenjiang soldiers, but forging transfer orders is a death penalty, let alone forging transfer orders for the rebel army.

"Xiaguan...Xiaguan...Xiaguan there is no seal here." Yi Cheng was sweating profusely and could only come up with this excuse that didn't seem like an excuse.

"Bring the seal-carver caught in Baogang."

As soon as Meng Zhang opened his mouth, Yi Cheng immediately collapsed and sat on the ground.

Not long after, a forty-year-old man wearing commoners was picked up by two Bohai cavalry. At this moment, his face was covered with runny nose and tears. He obviously knew what kind of treasonous thing he was going to do.

"Please Yi Cheng show the transfer order sent by Zhenjiang Bingcao to the person who made the seal. He will definitely be able to forge a copy."

Meng Zhang didn't give Yi Cheng a chance to quibble. He took off the long knife from his waist and slapped it on the table hard, which also hit Yi Cheng's heart.

"I'm here to go..."

With a sad face, the postmaster walked into the posthouse under the supervision of two soldiers, and soon obtained several transfer orders from the soldiers.

Under the supervision of the soldiers, the person who carved the seal could only cry while taking out tools from the pile of scraps on his body and began to forge the seal of the soldier.

Looking at the clumsy technique, Yi Cheng felt guilty: "This... this... I'm afraid this can't be hidden from other stations."

"Don't worry, I won't give them time to identify."

Meng Zhang picked up a cup of coarse tea and drank it in one gulp, but his eyes fell on the horses resting outside the inn.

The rest time now exceeded a quarter of an hour, but Meng Zhang did not give the order to set off.

The soldiers were heartbroken for their war horses, and so was he.

With the opportunity of engraving, they can just rest for a while.

After that, there are still fifty miles to reach the capital. Counting the distance surrounding the capital, there is still at least sixty or seventy miles.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhang looked in the direction they came from.

In that direction, you can indeed see a lot of dots of fire. Those are the cavalry who have fallen behind on the road, and they are currently trying to catch up.

Some people took advantage of the rest time to catch up, but most people failed to catch up.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and as the seal was finally carved, the order for the military commander imitated by Yi Cheng was also completed.

When the seal was stamped, Yi Cheng knew that he had completely boarded the pirate ship. If the Bohai Navy could not capture the capital, then he would be killed by the Yi tribe.

"It's over..."

Yi Cheng closed his eyes in pain and looked up to the sky with a long sigh.

At the same time, Meng Zhang also ordered the entire army to continue on their way at the same time that the transfer order was written.

Two quarters of an hour's rest only added six to seven hundred brothers who had caught up, and more were still behind.

But at this time, Meng Zhang could no longer take care of them, and continued to attack the capital with less than three thousand brothers.

With this forged transfer order, it was much easier for them to march along the way. Whenever Yi Cheng wanted to check the authenticity of the transfer order, he would be scolded by Meng Zhang.

Helpless, Yi Cheng could only let them go, and at the same time, after they left, he sent news to Zhenjiang to inquire about the authenticity of the matter.

However, their news was destined not to stop Meng Zhang. The Bohai Jingqi he led galloped on the muddy official road, and soon walked out of Zhenjiang Mansion and entered Yingtian Mansion.

After a short rest for a quarter of an hour, Meng Zhang galloped towards the capital, which was still thirty miles away, and it was only the sixth quarter of Yinshi (4:30).

The news of the Zhenjiang post station reached the Zhenjiang Yamen. However, when the Zhenjiang soldier sent by the imperial court heard that a cavalry team was heading straight to the capital with his own transfer order, the soldier immediately slumped from his chair and sat on the ground.

"It's over... it's over..."

"Wang Bingcao, we should inform the capital immediately!"

Wang Bingcao collapsed on the ground. When Zhenjiang Magistrate Fang Hui saw this, he knew that this matter had nothing to do with Wang Bingcao. He immediately helped Wang Bingcao sit back on the chair and tried to wake him up.

"It's over...it's too late."

Wang Bingcao's face was full of mourning, and the Zhenjiang prefect turned pale when he heard this.

Under his gaze, Wang Bingcao had tears and runny nose running down his face:

"According to their speed, I'm afraid they will have arrived in the capital now!"

　The second update is estimated to be around 5 p.m.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)