Ming Dynasty: The ghost betrays the Confucian sage, my son Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 255: All the generals paid homage to the Emperor: More ruthless than the Emperor

Feng Sheng's mansion.

Except for Xu Da and Tang He, almost all the generals with real power in the army gathered together. They sat around a table and drowned their sorrows with wine. Every sip of strong wine seemed to express their inner anger. Nanxiong Hou Zhao Yong snorted and said disdainfully: "Although the Supreme Emperor is extremely skilled in martial arts, he has never led troops to fight? You know, there is a huge difference between fighting on the battlefield and fighting in the rivers and lakes. He wants to take charge In Northern Xinjiang, do we all have to obey him?"

"Too much words lead to mistakes, Zhao Yong." Feng Sheng glanced at him sharply and warned.

Xingyang Marquis Zheng Yuchun said: "Song Guogong, we are just complaining to you. To be honest, not only us, but also most of the officers and soldiers in the army are dissatisfied with the military and political affairs of the Supreme Emperor. I really don't know what your Majesty thinks."

Feng Sheng frowned and said seriously: "Your Majesty's decree has been issued, and Wei Guogong has reminded us many times. In Northern Xinjiang, the Supreme Emperor's order is equivalent to an imperial decree, and we must obey it."

"Hmph, obey as long as you obey." Zhao Yong snorted disdainfully and slammed down the wine glass. "If we are defeated by then, we can't be blamed."

The generals looked at each other, and a cold light flashed across them. Needless to say, everyone wanted to drive the Supreme Emperor out of the army and not let him come and dictate to the army.

Feng Sheng raised his glass and suggested: "Come on, let's continue drinking without talking about these troublesome things."

Everyone raised their glasses, and the wine table became lively again. They began to drink large bowls of wine and eat large pieces of meat. Not long after, a guard came in hurriedly and reported: "To the Duke of Song, the Supreme Emperor has issued an oral order, ordering all the generals to follow him to inspect Songting Pass tomorrow."

"Got it." Feng Sheng waved his hand lightly, signaling the guards to step back.

……

Songting Pass stands tall and majestic.

Fourth Master Zhu and King Zhu Di of Yan led the generals to the pass tower and looked at the vast land outside the pass. Fourth Master Zhu's eyes wandered around the young generals, and finally landed on Li Jinglong. He asked with a smile: "If Wang Baobao leads a large army to invade, and Beiping's defense force is weak, how should we respond?"

Li Jinglong was thrown into the army by his father Li Wenzhong this time, and the purpose was of course to train him. Hearing the Emperor's roll call, he stood up confidently: "If I were to take command, I would decisively abandon the surrounding secondary passes and send two elite troops to guard Songting Pass and Marco Polo Bridge. The rest of the army was withdrawn into the city of Beiping. The walls of Beiping are indestructible. , we can use this advantage to deal with the Yuan army and wait for the arrival of reinforcements. "

When Zhu Di heard this, he showed disdain: "How can we sit back and wait for death? We should send elite cavalry out of the city to guerrilla and take the initiative to challenge the Yuan army."

"Although the Yuan army has retreated to the grassland, the strength of their cavalry cannot be underestimated." Li Jinglong retorted, "Simply using cavalry against cavalry has a low chance of winning, and even if they win, they will suffer heavy losses."

Master Zhu laughed loudly after hearing this, but did not directly comment on their views. He knew in his heart that the answers of the two men exactly reflected their respective personality traits, which also foreshadowed that their methods of commanding troops would be very different in the future.

"Report... urgent military report..." A spy rushed up to the tower panting, "Report to the Supreme Emperor, Yuan General Shi Cihan is leading an army of 100,000 people towards Songting Pass."

The generals were shocked when they heard this. How could the Yuan army come back so quickly? As for the current Songting Pass, even after reinforcements, the defenders only number 30,000. Fourth Master Zhu looked around and asked in a deep voice: "Everyone, how should we respond?"

Feng Sheng bowed and responded: "Relying on the danger of Songting Pass, 30,000 defenders are enough to hold on. We should immediately send people to Peiping to ask for reinforcements. Once the reinforcements arrive, we can switch from defense to offense."

Other generals agreed, believing that with the strength of Songting Pass, it would not be difficult to hold on until reinforcements arrived. However, Fourth Master Zhu smiled slightly and waved his hand: "No, we will attack with the whole army, confront the enemy head-on and break his edge!"

"What?" The generals were stunned.

A general wanted to stop the Supreme Emperor immediately, but was stopped by Nanxiong Hou Zhao Yong's eyes. The meaning was obvious. The Supreme Emperor wanted to take the initiative. If he was defeated, he could only be blamed.

……

Two hours later, the grassland outside the pass.

General Yuan was stunned when he lost Cihan. He led his troops to attack Songting Pass this time, but before he arrived, he saw 30,000 Ming troops waiting in front of them, as if they had been waiting for a long time.

"Do they want to use 30,000 people to fight against our 100,000-strong army?" A chief of ten thousand men said with disdain, "General, you are simply here to die!"

"Hmph, they are like lambs waiting to be slaughtered." Shi Cihan sneered and pulled out his scimitar, "Chang Janu, you lead the troops to attack their left wing; Barbarian Ha Ci, you are responsible for the right wing; the rest are taken directly by me. Their army!"

"Kill!" The soldiers of the Yuan army were in high morale. A hundred thousand troops attacked like a tsunami, with iron hooves like thunder and a majestic momentum. The entire grassland seemed to be trembling under their iron hooves, and the Yuan army's scimitar shone with a sharp cold light in the sun.

At the same time, all the generals in the Ming army camp focused their attention on the Supreme Emperor Zhu Siye, and wanted to see how he could command 30,000 people against 100,000 people. Fourth Master Zhu signaled Zhu Di beside him with his eyes, and Zhu Di immediately rode on his horse to convey the order. The soldiers of the Shenji Battalion were already ready, and rows of red cannons were aimed at the charging Yuan army. Behind the cannon, thousands of musketeers stood ready. Following Zhu Di's order, deafening cannon fire rang out, red cannons spurted out tongues of fire, and the shells streaked across the sky like meteors, slamming into the Yuan army's camp. In an instant, the Yuan soldiers fell on their backs and screamed repeatedly.

Although the Yuan army fell in pieces, their attack speed did not slow down significantly. The experienced Yuan general Shi Cihan quickly adjusted his strategy and ordered the entire army to accelerate the charge in an attempt to weaken the advantage of the Ming army's firearms through close combat.

However, this time he seriously underestimated the power of the Ming army's firearms. The red-coated cannons and muskets of the Shenji Battalion fired volleys, and the Yuan army's charge formation was completely disrupted. Men and horses continued to fall, and the roar of cannons and firing of muskets frightened the horses into panic and fled in all directions.

"Hahaha, there are three axes to protect your life, it's time for the second axe." Fourth Master Zhu waved his hand.

Zhu Di ordered the cavalry to quickly press forward and take advantage of their chaos to kill them. Zhu Di took the lead and led the cavalry to rush forward, like a torrent, rushing into the battlefield.

……

The so-called "kill you with three axes" combat is actually Zhu Di's combat method that Master Zhu learned from reading "History of the Ming Dynasty" in his previous life. To sum up, it is relatively simple. First, use the Shenji camp to bombard the enemy, and then let the cavalry attack while they are in chaos. The last step is to let the infantry press on and start harvesting.

Zhu Di used these three axes to sweep across the grassland. Hundreds of years later, a man named Napoleon also used this method of warfare to sweep across Europe. Seeing that the cavalry had almost charged, Fourth Master Zhu turned his head to look at the stunned generals, and his eyes fell on Feng Sheng: "Song Guogong, lead the infantry to press forward."

"General, take your orders!" Feng Sheng rode out.

The last ten thousand infantrymen pressed forward and started harvesting. At this time, the Yuan army had completely collapsed and fled in all directions. An army of one hundred thousand could not organize a defense at all, and was cut into many pieces. They each fled for their lives.

At dusk, the Ming army won a complete victory and returned to Songting Pass in triumph. Fourth Master Zhu was sitting on the commander's seat, and all the generals were neatly arranged in front of him. Then they all knelt down to pay homage: "I will bow to the Supreme Emperor!"

This battle not only convinced the generals, but also allowed them to find effective tactics to restrain the prairie cavalry. An imperceptible smile flashed across the corner of Fourth Master Zhu's lips, which was exactly the result he wanted. Only when the generals truly surrender can he better control the situation in northern Xinjiang and advance his series of grand plans.

"Everyone, I love you." Mr. Zhu raised his hand to indicate, "Today's battle is just a small test, the real enemy Wang Baobao has not yet appeared."

"The general must practice more intensively, and with your three-axe tactic, the Supreme Emperor, we will definitely be able to defeat Wang Baobao." Feng Sheng said with confidence, "The advantage of the Yuan army lies in their cavalry, and this tactic can restrain them. "

All the generals also nodded in agreement. Fourth Master Zhu smiled and nodded, and took out a blueprint, which he got after deducing, of basic infantry and artillery coordinated operations.

……

As the night grew darker, Fourth Master Zhu tossed and turned in his military tent, unable to sleep. He secretly murmured in his heart: "This long night, it would be great if I could be accompanied by a beautiful woman."

Suddenly, a figure landed lightly outside the tent. Fourth Master Zhu sat up alertly, flashed out of the tent, raised his hand and struck it with a palm. With a bang, the man took the palm forcefully, and then hurriedly shouted: "Master, it's me!"

"Xuan Su?" Fourth Master Zhu exclaimed in surprise, "Last time you disappeared in southern Xinjiang, I thought you were fascinated by some Miao Xinjiang girl."

Zhang Xuansu was speechless for a moment and looked at Fourth Master Zhu helplessly, "Master, I am different from you."

"Why did you show up at this time? It was in the middle of the night. I thought you were an assassin." Fourth Master Zhu spread his hands and asked with some confusion.

"Master, I'm here to tell you that Musashi is in Beiping and will probably appear soon." Zhang Xuansu said with a frown, "When the time comes, it will definitely attract experts from all walks of life to come and fight for it. We need to prepare in advance. ”

"Stop fooling me. Last time you said that the soldiers were hiding in southern Xinjiang, but where were they?" Fourth Master Zhu's eyes widened.

"That's not because, master, you were only chasing the Longyuan Sword and didn't even go into the water to check." Zhang Xuansu rolled his eyes helplessly, "Bing Zang is under the hidden dragon deep pool, and you didn't even notice it."

"Ah? What's in that?" Master Zhu asked eagerly.

"How do I know? Only those who hold the Longyuan Sword can get close." Zhang Xuansu explained, "I can only wait until the next opportunity to open it. When I was in southern Xinjiang, I went to verify this matter. "

After hearing this, Fourth Master Zhu nodded thoughtfully and fell into deep thought. He smiled at Zhang Xuansu: "It's good that you are here, you will have many helpers for me."

(End of this chapter)