Daming: My boss Zhu Yuanzhang

On the river less than ten miles away from Yingtian Prefecture, Zhu Gang stood at the bow of the boat with an extremely ugly expression on his face.

He originally thought that Yangzhou was lightly guarded and could be easily captured. In addition, it would take less than a day to reach Beijing by water, so he would definitely be able to arrive in Beijing two or three days earlier than Zhu Di. However, the facts were beyond his expectations.

Although there were not many people left behind in Yangzhou, when the real fighting broke out he realized how difficult it was to capture this city. Not only were the city walls as strong and tall as those of the capital, but the soldiers who stayed behind were also extremely brave.

Not only that, in addition to these soldiers, the people in the city also united to help these people defend the city.

The Yangzhou city was just a mere city with only a few thousand soldiers stationed there, but they managed to stop him for nearly five days. This was under the premise that he also had firearms and cannons, which were powerful siege weapons!

Fortunately, he had the advantage in military strength, and after attacking at all costs, he finally captured the city quickly.

But even so, he had missed the best time to enter Beijing. After so many days, Zhu Di might have already entered Beijing, and even destroyed the rebels and took control of the capital.

In a rage, he almost ordered a massacre in the city. Fortunately, Princess Anqing tried her best to stop him, and he was also in a hurry to go to Beijing, so Yangzhou luckily escaped the disaster.

Light footsteps sounded, and An Qing came up behind him and bowed, then hesitated and asked softly, "Third brother, did my husband really rebel?"

Li Wei did not make his attitude clear before sending out his troops, and she did not know whether Li Wei went to Beijing to support the king or to rebel. However, she really did not want to believe that Li Wei would eventually ignore her advice and do such a rebellious thing.

Zhu Gang glanced back at her with great displeasure and said indifferently: "We will be entering the capital soon, you can see for yourself then!"

Anqing wanted to come along, but he had other plans for bringing Anqing along.

The failure of the attack on Yangzhou made him realize the extraordinaryness of the soldiers under Li Wei. After he arrived in Beijing, if Li Wei was still resisting stubbornly in Fuyu and had not been wiped out by Zhu Di, he could use Anqing to make Li Wei submit to him and jointly fight against Zhu Di who had already taken control of the capital.

An Qing's face was somewhat sad. In the end, her father and her husband had come to this point. What if one of them had been defeated and killed when she arrived in Beijing, how could she face it?
"This is an urgent matter. Please ask the soldiers to hurry up!"

Now she could only urge Zhu Gang's army to enter Beijing as soon as possible, perhaps to prevent this tragedy.

Zhu Gang nodded and immediately gave orders again urging the general to speed up.

He was much more anxious than Anqing. Now that the crown prince was dead, the throne was vacant. If anything happened to his father, he and Zhu Di's army would immediately change from defending the king to fighting for the throne. Whoever could occupy the capital first would be able to seize the throne!

The army went upstream. Although its speed was not as fast as Li Wei's steamships, it was also very fast under his repeated urging. In less than half an hour, they covered the last ten miles and arrived at Yingtian, the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

"Pass the order down, once the ship reaches the shore, all troops will immediately disembark and line up!"

Seeing the outer city of the capital from afar, Zhu Gang gave orders anxiously.

The personal soldier responded and turned around to pass on the order, while Zhu Gang took out a telescope and looked at the outer city of the capital, trying to find out what the current situation of the capital was and whether it had been completely controlled by Zhu Di.

In the tower on the Shen Ce Gate, Zhu Di had a depressed look on his face, while his subordinates Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng and others were busy gathering the scattered remnants of the army.

He and Guo Ying had sent out their best troops in the battle with Li Wei, but they ended up in a crushing defeat. Now, let alone controlling the capital, it is still unknown whether they can subdue Li Wei even if they unite with the remaining troops.

When he thought of the incredibly powerful firearms that Li Weixin had taken out, he felt heartbroken. He was afraid that he would never have the chance to get these firearms in this lifetime.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty! The army of King Jin has arrived!"

At this time, Zhang Yu suddenly hurried in, bowed to him and said.

Zhu Di raised his head upon hearing this, but then lost interest and waved his hand calmly, "Come if you want."

Zhang Yu opened his mouth when he saw this, but he didn't know what to say. He hesitated for a moment before trying to ask, "Then do we need to do something?"

Zhu Di shook his head and said, "Don't worry about him!"

The most important thing now is to quell the rebellion first, especially Li Wei, who can only be subdued with the joint efforts of everyone. His dispute with Zhu Gang for the throne can only be put aside for the time being.

"Yes!"

Seeing this, Zhang Yu could only bow in agreement and turned to leave.

Zhu Gang saw from afar that the guards at the Jinchuan Gate were lax and did not seem to be under control, and he felt a little relieved.

After the army arrived at Jinchuan Gate, he hurriedly led his troops into the city, and the personal soldiers guarding the city did not stop him after verifying their identities.

Only after he successfully led his men to the top of the city wall did he feel completely relieved.

Guo Ying, who was organizing his men to gather the defeated soldiers, hurried over after hearing the news and bowed, "Greetings, His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin!"

When Zhu Gang saw him, he immediately smiled and said, "Marquis Dingyuan, there is no need to be polite. What is the situation in the capital now? Has the rebellion been quelled?"

An Qing, who was following beside him, was also looking at Guo Ying nervously, fearing that he would say something that he would not be able to accept.

Guo Ying thanked him respectfully and bowed to An Qing beside him. Then he frowned and shook his head and said, "Originally, everything went smoothly. According to your majesty's arrangement, we have trapped all the rebels in the city. We only need to encircle and suppress them with a large army. However, when we went to attack Li Wei stationed in the Military Equipment Bureau today, we found that he suddenly took out many powerful firearms. Even with more than 100,000 of our elite troops, we were still easily defeated by him."

"Oh, is it so?"

Zhu Gang showed a look of surprise and joy, but then he felt something was wrong, and quickly put away his joy. He said with a worried expression: "This Li Wei is so powerful, I really underestimated him!"

When An Qing heard that Li Wei was fine, she finally let go of her worries and said immediately, "Please ask Marquis Dingyuan to send me to my husband. I will persuade him to stop fighting and apologize to my father!"

Guo Ying was stunned when he heard this, hesitated for a moment and looked at Zhu Gang.

Zhu Gang's eyes flickered, and then he waved his hand and said, "Hey, little sister, don't worry about it. I will make arrangements for this matter myself."

After saying this, without giving Anqing a chance to argue, he turned to Guo Ying and asked, "Where is my fourth brother now?"

Zhu Di was defeated in this battle and suffered heavy losses. No matter what was said, he would have to be laughed at first.

Guo Ying didn't think much about it and said directly: "His Royal Highness Prince Yan is stationed at Shen Ce Gate."

"Oh, then come with me to meet him. My fourth brother is still young, and he will surely feel sorry for himself after suffering such a sudden defeat. I must go and comfort him."

"it is good!"

Guo Ying agreed and immediately led Zhu Gang to the Shen Ce Gate.

"Third brother, let me go see my husband first!" An Qing hurriedly followed and called out, but Zhu Gang did not respond at all. The two city gates were not far apart, and when they arrived in front of the city gate tower, Zhu Gang immediately shouted, "Fourth brother! I heard that you were defeated, so I came to see you. Where are you, fourth brother?"

Zhu Di, who was in the tower, heard the shouts of those who were afraid that others would not know that he had just suffered a great defeat. He suddenly felt a headache and hurried out:
"Third brother, you are finally here, but you kept me waiting for so long!"

Zhu Di said this in a sarcastic tone while bowing his hands. After that, he exchanged simple greetings with Guo Ying and An Qing.

When the two men divided their forces before reaching Yangzhou, Zhu Gang forced him to take the land route while he himself took the water route. However, this ended up allowing Zhu Gang to gain the upper hand. Zhu Gang ended up losing more than he gained.

Sure enough, upon hearing his words, Zhu Gang's smile froze. He snorted and said in a tone of teaching, "What's the point of arriving early? Didn't you still suffer a great defeat? I'm not saying this to you, but you were too reckless this time. If you had waited until I arrived and then encircled and suppressed these rebels together, how could you have suffered such a great defeat?"

Zhu Di's mouth twitched, and he resisted the urge to get angry, and said in a deep voice: "My brother is right!"

After hearing this, Zhu Gang nodded with satisfaction: "Well, it's good that you admit your mistakes. Don't worry, now that I'm here, Li Wei can't make any waves!"

"Then it all depends on my brother."

Zhu Di said expressionlessly, sneering in his heart.

Li Wei is not easy to deal with now that he has those firearms. Zhu Gang's military strength is not much different from his. If he really fights against Li Wei, he will probably be defeated.

While the two were talking, a soldier suddenly ran over from a distance. He came to the crowd in a panic, not even bothering to salute, and said directly to Guo Ying: "My Lord, it's bad, Prince Consort Li is leading his troops to attack the imperial city!"

When everyone heard this, their faces changed drastically!
"How is it possible? He has just experienced a great battle, how could he attack the imperial city immediately without resting?" Zhu Di exclaimed.

"It's true. Marquis Fengxiang has already brought people to provide support!" the soldier said hurriedly.

Zhu Di and Guo Ying also looked at each other, feeling confused and uncertain.

Anqing's face turned even paler.

"Don't panic. I will lead the army to wipe out this rebel!"

Zhu Gang said in a cold voice, then turned and left, ordering the entire army to march towards the imperial city.

Zhu Di and Guo Ying had no time to gather the remaining troops, and quickly assembled the existing troops and set out with Zhu Gang.

……

Outside the Xi'an Gate, guns and cannons rang out. Lan Yu looked at his soldiers who were constantly falling with a ferocious look on his face. Faced with Li Wei's powerful firepower, he could only send out cavalry to try to rush over and disrupt their formation.

However, the rifles in the hands of Li Wei and his soldiers were different from the flintlock rifles in the past. The firepower was almost continuous, and the bullets were like rain. The distance of only 500 steps seemed to be an insurmountable barrier. The cavalry were killed halfway during several charges.

This was just the power of the rifle. After a while, the heavy machine gun team also caught up and set up their machine guns. Suddenly, the sound of gunfire rang out. One machine gun could match the firepower of hundreds or thousands of soldiers. Lan Yu and his soldiers fell down in large numbers like straw blown down by the wind, and their miserable screams resounded throughout the battlefield.

Lan Yu looked at these monsters that were emitting flames and spewing continuous rain of bullets in horror, and his whole body was cold!
He knew that Li Wei was good at making firearms, but he never expected that Li Wei could make such a terrifying firearm!

This is not a firearm at all, it is clearly a killing machine. In just a short while, nearly a thousand of his soldiers had died under the hail of bullets fired by this monster!
Lu Zhongheng and Tang Shengzong, who were still fighting fiercely with Geng Bingwen in the front, also noticed the movement behind them and immediately reduced their offensive. While fighting, they kept looking back at Lan Yu.

Li Shanchang, Zhang Fengyi and others who had hid in the corner early were now looking at their soldiers falling to the ground in fear, their faces looking ashen.

They really didn't expect that Li Wei's troops were so powerful. Based on the combat power they had shown now, the imperial city would definitely be breached with or without their help.

Now they are no longer considering whether they can break through the imperial city, but how to escape quickly!

Thinking of this, Li Shanchang quickly crouched and ran to Lan Yu, and said hurriedly: "General Lan, stop fighting, and quickly lead the people to retreat, we are no match for Li Wei!"

"Where to retreat?"

Lan Yu's face was pale at this time. He certainly knew that he was definitely no match for Li Wei, but now the outer city was controlled by the royal army and they couldn't get out at all!

Li Shanchang thought for a moment and said, "We can retreat to a remote place first. Li Wei will definitely attack the imperial city next, and the imperial army will come to support us soon. We can take advantage of the time when they are fighting to break out of the city!"

Lan Yu remained silent upon hearing this. Li Wei was very powerful and they could not defeat him, but the royal army was no pushover either. According to the news Fei Ju had brought back before, the royal army's combat power far exceeded theirs. After all, it was because they had no firearms.

It was all Li Wei's fault for inventing these powerful firearms, which caused their elite troops, which mainly used cold weapons, to become second-rate.

Thinking of this, Lan Yu could not help but feel a surge of sorrow in his heart. He looked up at the sky and sighed, "The general has died in a hundred battles. If we lose today, there will be no chance for us to turn the tide. If this is the case, why should we live in this world!"

Li Shanchang's heart sank when he heard this, and he quickly advised: "General Lan Yu, why do you have to do this? If we retreat now, we may still have a chance to escape..."

"No need to say more, if you want to escape, then escape!" Lan Yu said, then turned to look at the soldiers and generals around him and said, "Those of you who want to escape, then follow Duke Han. If you don't want to escape, then follow me!"

After saying this, he suddenly snatched a warhorse from his personal soldier, mounted the warhorse, drew his sword, and roared, "Kill!"

The warhorse let out a painful neigh when he hit it with the back of his sword, and then ran away wildly.

As for his personal soldiers and other generals, some of them were really loyal. After seeing him charge out, they immediately mounted their horses and followed closely. However, many of them looked at Li Shanchang. Li Shanchang looked at Lan Yu who was charging out and stretched out his hand. In the end, he said nothing more. He turned around and said to these generals, "Let's retreat quickly!"

"Yes!"

The generals were now at a loss. When they heard his words, they all agreed and quickly led their trusted followers to flee to the north with him.

Although their 100,000 soldiers were numerous, they were already exhausted after days of fierce fighting. They finally saw hope of breaking the city, but were suddenly hit hard by "friendly forces". They suffered heavy casualties under the slaughter of Li Wei's heavy machine guns and artillery. Their morale had already fallen to the bottom. When they saw these generals taking the lead in fleeing, they immediately followed suit and fled for their lives.

In a moment, the 100,000-strong army was in chaos, and Lu Zhongheng and Tang Shengzong, who were blocked at the city gate, were so angry that they cursed.

Zhu Yuanzhang was dressed in a dragon robe, but at this moment he looked like an old general who had won countless battles, standing on the city wall and watching the fierce battle below.

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw the heavy machine gun that Li Wei took out, a look of shock flashed across his eyes, and it took him a long time to calm down.

"Pass the order, let Geng Bingwen repel the enemy and close the city gates!" Zhu Yuanzhang ordered.

Now the rebels have begun to flee, and his goal has been achieved. If the city gates are closed at this time, Li Wei, Lan Yu and others will not be able to stop and join forces to attack the imperial city. They will definitely have to decide the winner first.

But now the result is obvious. Next he will face the powerful Li Wei! (End of this chapter)