Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 90 Chang Yuchun: I stand like a minion (Subscribe)
How important is Anqing’s geographical location?
Looking at the entire Yangtze River Basin, there are three cities that cannot be ignored in the struggle for supremacy in the east of the Yangtze River since ancient times: Nanjing in the lower reaches, Jiujiang in the middle reaches, and Wuhan in the upper reaches.

However, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the names were not these. Nanjing is now called Jiankang, Jiujiang is now called Jiangzhou, and the concept of Wuhan did not exist yet.

Wuhan’s predecessor, Wuchang, was a major commercial town that developed in the Yuan Dynasty. Hankou was developed in the Ming Dynasty, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty that these two cities merged to form the concept of Wuhan.

These three cities correspond to three geographical regions, Nanjing corresponds to Zhejiang, Jiujiang corresponds to Jiangxi, and Wuchang corresponds to Huguang.

Anqing is located between Jiujiang and Nanjing.

Anqing was formerly known as Wancheng, which is the abbreviation of Anhui. It was changed to Anqing in the Song Dynasty.

Going downstream along the Yangtze River, after leaving Jiujiang, you will find a strategically located terrain. Anqing is connected to the Dabie Mountains in the west and the Huangshan Mountains in the east, with a river sandwiched between two mountains. Whoever takes this place will have the initiative in the competition in the Yangtze River Basin.

To put it bluntly, as long as Anqing is captured, Chen Youliang will have no chance of reaching Nanjing.

This is when looking at the entire Yangtze River. If we narrow our vision and only look at Jiangxi, then Anqing is the key to opening Jiangxi.

Jiangxi Province is surrounded by mountains on three sides, like a bottle. The mouth of the bottle in the north is Jiujiang on the bank of the Yangtze River.

Such terrain is difficult to attack from the east, west and south directions. The most convenient way is to attack by water from Jiujiang Pingkou.

Anqing is right behind Jiujiang. If Jiujiang is the northern gate of Jiangxi, then Anqing is the security guard at the gate.

You can also ignore the security at the door and go directly to the gate to pry the lock, but the security behind you will definitely beat you to death with a stick, so if you want to attack Jiangxi, you must first attack Jiujiang, and if you want to attack Jiujiang, you must first attack Anqing.

First, hammer the security guard to death, then pry the gate open, and the whole of Jiangxi will be yours.

Such an important strategic location should be captured as soon as possible, but Lu Jin currently has too few troops, and occupying all the good land near Luzhou is already the limit now.

Lu Jin was thinking about the future development direction. He lowered his head and saw Li Jun kneeling there. He glanced at him and immediately asked.

"Hey, your commander's head is right here. Now that you're captured alive by me, what are your plans?"

Li Jundun said anxiously, "General Lu first defeated Zuo Junbi, then defeated Zhu Liangzu, and now even Kang Maocai has died at the hands of General Lu. This is fate, not the fault of war. If you don't kill me today, I will definitely repay your kindness by tying a grass knot and holding a ring in my mouth."

Lu Jin nodded with satisfaction and commented, "You are quite sincere. Since you are willing to surrender, I will let you go first. I will see how you perform in the future. Don't make me regret not killing you today!
"Get up, Yang Huan, and untie him."

"Yes."

When Yang Huan untied the rope for him, Li Jun immediately knelt on the ground again and kowtowed to Lu Jin, saying, "Ming Gong's kindness of sparing my life will never be forgotten. From now on, I will definitely repay you for your kindness of saving my life by tying a grass ring, holding a horse or a stool, and going through fire and water. I will do whatever it takes to repay you for saving my life."

"Well, no need to say nice things." Lu Jin nodded again.

"I only look at your actual performance. Did you see Ye Sheng who was chasing the rear army today? And Yin Congdao who attacked you from the front? They were all generals of Zuo Junbi. Since they followed me, they have been loyal and brave. No matter what the task was, they never refused.

"As long as you do a good job, you will not only be fine, but you will also be promoted. I am not a petty person, and I hope you will not be ungrateful and remember what you said today."

"Yes, thank you for your advice, I will keep it in mind." Li Jun bowed his head again after hearing this.

"Okay, get up. Go and select 850 young and strong men from the prisoners below, organize them into a battalion, and prepare them for use. For the time being, I will let you be the battalion commander of a thousand households. Your promotion in the future will depend on your military merits." Lu Jin said, pointing to the prisoners under the city.

"Yes."

Lu Jin already had an idea about Li Jun's combat battalion. Before, he and Zhang Wen had played a trick of self-torture and killed Zhao Pusheng. At that time, he promised him that he would be reinstated. Now there was an urgent need to expand the army, and it was a good time to restore his position.

It happened that Zhu Shou and Zhang Wen also came back at this time. Lu Jin immediately asked the guards to call the two men over and made arrangements for them.

"Zhang Wen, Zhu Shou, you two have made great contributions in this battle. You were my personal soldiers before, and you contributed very little in the three battles before I conquered Luzhou. Although the Chaohu veterans didn't say it, they were somewhat dissatisfied in their hearts when I directly promoted you two to be the regiment commanders.

"But things will be different after today's battle. Not only are you my personal soldiers, but you are also very capable fighters. You were the first to break the right wing of Kang Maocai's formation. How many people can do such a thing?"

"Hehe, it's thanks to the Marshal's good command, otherwise we wouldn't be where we are now." Zhang Wen said modestly. He is Lu Jin's brother-in-law now, so even if he is just a battalion commander of a thousand households, who would dare to look down on him?

Zhu Shou also said, "Brother Lu's method of using a chariot to engage the enemy in close combat is better, otherwise his formation would be difficult to break."

Seeing that the two were still as familiar as before, Lu Jin nodded with relief and continued.

"You two have done a great deed this time, so you deserve a reward. Zhu Shou hasn't married yet. When we get back this time, I'll find someone to introduce you to a wife, how about that?"

"Ah? This..." Zhu Shou was speechless. Is introducing his wife considered a reward?
Lu Jin looked at Zhang Wen again, "I said before that as long as you have made contributions, you will be reinstated. It just so happens that our territory has expanded again this time, and our military strength is tight, so we still have to continue to expand our army.

"Zhang Wen, you will be separated from the First Regiment and promoted to the commander of the newly formed Sixth Regiment. I will also transfer Zhang Liang from the First Regiment's auxiliary battalion to serve as a captain for you. The brothers Qin Zhao and Qin Rong from Liang County also have more than 2,000 soldiers there. I will also transfer Qin Zhao to you."

Lu Jin pointed at Li Jun who was selecting soldiers and said, "This Li Jun, a general under Kang Maocai, has surrendered to us. I'll let him lead a battalion to you. Keep a close eye on him, but you still have to use him when necessary."

"Yes, thank you, Brother Lu." Zhang Wen said happily.

Lu Jin patted his shoulder and said, "Most of your newly formed Sixth Regiment are new recruits or surrendered soldiers who are not familiar with our tactics. Once they are formed, they will be stationed in Liang County for training and will also guard Luzhou. There is no plan for you to send troops for the time being."

"Yes." Zhang Wen agreed immediately.

Lu Jin turned to look at Zhu Shou again, "After Zhang Wen left, your regiment was short of a combat battalion, so I will transfer Qin Rong to you as a replacement."

"Okay, no problem for me." Zhu Shou also agreed.

In this way, Lu Jin had one more regiment.

The newly formed Sixth Regiment, under the command of Zhang Wen, led a combat battalion, and had 4250 soldiers Zhang Liang, Qin Zhao, and Li Jun, which made up exactly four combat battalions. They also added a battalion of auxiliary soldiers from prisoners, for a total of people. Zhu Shou's regiment remained basically unchanged except for the transfer of personnel.

After arranging the expansion of the two, Lu Jin said to them, "Zhang Wen, go now, take your battalion, add an auxiliary battalion from the prisoners, and bring Li Jun with you, and immediately return to Liang County for reorganization.

"Luzhou is short of troops now. I will feel relieved if you return earlier."

"Yes."

"Zhu Shou, you continue to clean up the battlefield and be responsible for counting the battle damage and captured prisoners."

"Yes."

After the two of them left to do their own things, Ye Sheng also came back with Chen Hong in the direction of Hanshan. They were all cavalry, so they ran faster.

Zhu Liangzu was anxious to see Lu Jin, so he left the main force to Liao Yongzhong to march slowly, and he himself returned with Ye Shengxian with a few personal soldiers.

Chen Hong, who was captured by them, was a carefree guy, and he knew Ye Sheng and Zhu Liangzu before.

Ye Sheng used to be a general under Zuo Junbi and surrendered to Lu Jin. Zhu Liangzu was the mortal enemy of the Chaohu navy and personally killed Miss Jinhua among thousands of soldiers. Even a fellow like him could become a commander under Lu Jin, so what did Chen Hong have to worry about?

As long as he was willing to surrender, he would be able to save his life, so he was not very afraid.

Ye Sheng and Chen Hong came back first. Zhu Liangzu didn't get to fight and was very depressed along the way. When he reached the outside of Chao County, he suddenly had to pee, so he dismounted and went to the tree beside the official road to pee.

This guy was having a great time releasing water, but when he looked up, he suddenly saw two living people on the tree. He was almost scared to death and immediately exclaimed.

"Oh! There is someone in the tree. Where are the soldiers? Come here quickly! There is someone in the tree!"

Zhu Liangzu pulled up his trousers and retreated. Hearing his call, several personal soldiers rode over and surrounded the tree with weapons in hand.

Chang Yuchun, who was on the tree, cursed inwardly that he was unlucky. When he saw someone raising a bow and arrow to shoot at the tree, he shouted hurriedly.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot, we are here to surrender to Marshal Lu!"

"Don't shoot, we are just good people passing by. We are here to chop wood, not to be spies!"

"."

Chang Yuchun was speechless for a while, and glanced at Lan Rong beside him. He was so angry that he wanted to curse, "Why the hell are you saying something different from what I said?"
Zhu Liangzu had already put on his pants by this time. When he heard what the two said, he immediately sneered.

"To surrender to Marshal Lu? An honest citizen who cuts wood? Haha, not a spy? Have you discussed it? Do you want to discuss it again after discussing it?"

Lan Rong then realized the loophole in what the two had said, and cursed his bad luck.

Zhu Liangzu jumped on his horse and pointed the spear in his hand, "Why don't you get off? If you don't, I'll shoot you to death!"

Chang Yuchun had no choice but to get down from the tree with Lan Rong.

Looking at the two people who were surrounded, they were both young and strong, one in his early twenties and the other sixteen or seventeen years old. Then looking at Chang Yuchun's tall height, long arms, and muscular body, does he look like an ordinary citizen?
Zhu Liangzu immediately sneered, "Haha, not a spy?"

Chang Yuchun said quickly, "General, we are not spies. We have come to surrender to Marshal Lu. This is my brother. He is timid and just said nonsense because he was scared."

"Okay, okay, you're still being stubborn, right? If you want to surrender to Marshal Lu, then just go directly. Why are you hiding in the tree? And you still say you're not a spy?!"

Chang Yuchun was speechless for a moment and could only force himself to explain.

"We really came here for refuge, but just as we arrived here at noon, we ran into Kang Maocai's army. We didn't want to be implicated, so we temporarily hid in the tree. What I said is true. If I tell a lie, let this tree fall and crush me to death!"

Chang Yuchun had a serious expression, and Zhu Liangzu narrowed his eyes, "You want to surrender, right? That's great. I'm going to see Marshal Lu you mentioned, so come with me?"

Chang Yuchun breathed a sigh of relief. He had originally wanted to go back and discuss it with Lan Rong's father, Lan Chun. After all, Lan Chun was planning to marry his daughter Lan Caiyun to him. Even if he wanted to go to Lu Jin, he had to seek his family's opinion first.

This is good, I can only go there to seek refuge.
Lan Rong followed dejectedly, and Chang Yuchun was also treated like a thief. The two of them were brought to the top of Chao County by Zhu Liangzu and stood there like minions.

The Marshal Lu, whom they wanted to surrender to, was now thirty meters away. The guards around him were standing far away. Liao Yongan was whispering something in Lu Jin's ear.

There were not many people who could get so close to Lu Jin and talk to him. The most were Zhang Wen, Zhu Shou, Liao Yongan, and a few younger brothers of the Yu family.

"Marshal, Li Pusheng from Wuwei just sent someone to contact me, saying that he wants to join us, and asked if you are willing to take him in."

"Li Pusheng? The one with Zhao Pusheng? He hasn't left yet? I thought he went south to join his master Peng Yingyu." Lu Jin said speechlessly.

Liao Yongan speculated, "I suspect he originally wanted to come here, but after seeing Zhao Pusheng dead, he was too scared to come. Now that the Marshal has defeated Kang Maocai, he may think that he can succeed by following us, so he wants to surrender to us. Or he may be taking a gamble to see if the Marshal will accept him."

Lu Jin thought for a moment and asked, "What's your suggestion, Brother Yongan?"

Liao Yongan frowned and thought for a moment before saying, "It doesn't matter whether you accept him or not, but if you do, there will be hidden dangers. This person is Peng Yingyu's apprentice, and there must be some connection between them. If you accept him, the commander-in-chief should be careful that he may be a spy for Peng Yingyu."

Lu Jin laughed when he heard that.

"Hahahaha, I'm not really afraid of this. Go ask him if he's willing to come and see me if I take him in. If he really wants to come and seek refuge with me, then he should come and see me in person. If you don't even have the courage, what are you asking?!"

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)