Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 258 Preparations before Crossing the River (Part )

7. Strategic Direction after Crossing the Yangtze River

After hearing Lu Jin's words, the three of them were silent for a while, and then Feng Guoyong stood up and spoke.

"I agree with the Marshal's opinion. Why did all dynasties prohibit the private possession of armor by the people and regard the private possession of armor as treason? Because the advantage of wearing armor is too great over the unarmored. Our 40,000 troops crossing the river are all armored soldiers, while the 200,000 troops on the other side are mostly farmers without armor.

“A well-trained armored soldier can easily deal with ten unarmored old farmers. From this point of view, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are chickens and dogs.

"The second is field battles. Our field artillery can destroy a mile or two with one shot. Even the strongest enemy formation can be shattered after a few rounds of artillery fire. We can first break the formation with artillery and then send the armored soldiers to charge forward. I really don't believe that the Yuan army in the south of the Yangtze River can defeat us in a field battle.

"In this way, the Marshal's strategic plan can be realized. As long as we take a port and a city first and have a foothold, the enemy will rely on their large numbers while ours are small, and will definitely not be willing to divide their troops to defend the city. They will definitely seek to take the initiative to attack and drive us back.

“As long as the enemy dares to take the initiative to attack, we can rely on the city, line up our troops with our backs against the city, and seek to annihilate the main force of the enemy in a field battle.

"And I have another suggestion. I suggest that we should make full use of our army's advantage in field battles and play to our strengths. No, it seems that we are not weak in attacking cities. In fact, in order to quickly occupy more cities later, we should try to annihilate more enemy troops in field battles. This way, when we attack cities and plunder land later, we will encounter less resistance. This is called starting with the difficult and then the easy."

Hearing this, Lu Jin slapped his thigh and said, "Among the three of you, Guo Yong is the only one who is good at military strategy. Of course, we should not rely on our martial arts and be proud and complacent. Instead, we should despise the enemy strategically and take the enemy seriously tactically. We can ignore the opponent's 200,000 troops. This is to encourage everyone to have the courage to draw swords when encountering an enemy, but when we really face the enemy, we still have to fight well and can't really take it lightly."

The three of them nodded, and Bao Yu continued to introduce.

"The troops from Taiping Road and Jiqing Road are almost all here, but I noticed that there is another troop that is far away in Jiangxi, but we must also guard against it."

Lu Jin immediately perked up, "You go ahead."

Bao Yu immediately introduced, "It is a Miao army from southern Hunan. I heard that its leader is a descendant of Yang Zaixing, the 'Feishan Barbarian'. At first, they were also anti-Yuan righteous army, but later they were recruited by the Yuan court. Their leader is named Yang Zhengheng, and he has a brother named Yang Zhengren. Yang Zhengheng also has a son who is also a general in the army, named Yang Tongguan.

"This father, son, brother, uncle and nephew recruited tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers in southern Hunan. After being recruited by the Yuan army, they participated in the battle to recapture Wuchang. Wuchang was the capital of the Xu Song Dynasty. I heard that when Wuchang was recaptured this time, it was the Yang family barbarian soldiers who served as the vanguard and fought extremely bravely.

"This group of people were originally foreign soldiers. After the battle of Wuchang, someone advised the Yuan court not to use the Miao and Man soldiers anymore, lest they become uncontrollable in the future. So they left this army idle.

"But once we invade Jiangdong, the Yuan court will be in a hurry and may call on these barbarians to attack us again, so we must be on guard."

Lu Jin nodded when he heard this. The family with the surname Yang that Bao Yu mentioned gradually overlapped with the Yang Wanzhe in his mind.

Why did Lu Jin remember Yang Wanzhe? Because when he learned about the six founding dukes of the early Ming Dynasty, he accidentally saw Hu Dahai. At that time, Hu Dahai could be regarded as the best general under Zhu Yuanzhang, and even Xu Da could only be second to him. But such a man was actually killed by his own surrendered generals who rebelled again and were hit to death with a hammer in public. Otherwise, how could Xu Da have the chance to ascend to the throne?

So who surrendered to Hu Dahai and then rebelled again? It was the Miao army led by Yang Wanzhe.

This Yang Wanzhe followed his father and uncle into the underworld. He first helped the Yuan court fight Xu Shouhui and recapture Wuchang. Later, the Yuan court was suspicious of them and did not dare to use them excessively. Later, when the situation deteriorated, the Yuan court had to use them.

The Yuan court divided the Miao army into two parts. Yang Zhengheng led one half to fight in western Guangdong. In the end, they were outnumbered and the entire army was wiped out. Yang Zhengheng also died on the battlefield.

But his son Yang Tongguan's group was transferred to Zhejiang area. They fought against Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Shicheng, and defeated Zhang Shicheng so much that he lost his temper and made many military achievements. Later, he was given a Mongolian name by Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty, becoming Yang Wanzhe. At his peak, he had 200,000 soldiers and horses under his command.

Lu Jin looked at the sand table and thought for a while before saying, "This part of the Miao army may not come directly to attack Taiping Road and Jiqing Road. Instead, they may go directly to Anqing Road. Because if they want to come, they must go down the river, and Anqing, a key point in the middle section of the Yangtze River, is in our hands. They must first capture this key point before they can continue to attack. Otherwise, if they go deep into the enemy's territory alone, Anqing will come out and attack us from both sides, and they will surely die. Therefore, it is Anqing Road that should be strengthened in defense, not us."

The other three nodded when they heard this. After Lu Jin finished speaking, he looked at Feng Guoyong again.

"After this meeting, Mr. Feng will return to Anqing to continue building the castle and forts, and turn Anqing into an iron wall. I want them to make sure no matter who comes, they lose their teeth in Anqing, and the work must be done quickly, before September, so that they can cross the river with me."

Feng Guoyong calculated in his mind that it was now the end of May, and there were still three months left, June, July, and August. If he could build a bastion a month, he could complete it as long as he mobilized enough manpower. So he nodded and said, "I will definitely complete it."

Seeing that Lu Jin had a solution, Bao Yu continued.

"At the beginning, the lord asked me to pay attention to the movements of Yangzhou Road, Huai'an Road, and Gaoyou Prefecture, and also the movements of the Yuan court this year. The main reason is that we are afraid that after we cross the river, someone will get there first and occupy the fertile land around Taihu Lake. I am here to report the current situation."

Bao Yu took out the information again, pointing to the sand table and explaining, "In the areas of Yangzhou, Gaoyou, and Huai'an, the lord is most worried that the salt smugglers and salt workers will revolt and then go directly south to occupy Suzhou and Hangzhou. This is indeed possible, mainly because these salt workers sell private salt. First, they are very rich, second, they are numerous, third, they have fixed jobs and are relatively united, and fourth, they really have a lot of ships, so it is not difficult for them to cross the river." However, based on the clues I have, for now, the people who the lord asked me to monitor have not made any unusual movements.

"In addition, there are the movements of the Yuan court this year. After his brother Yesen was defeated in the campaign against Liu Futong, Prime Minister Tuotuo has been actively preparing to go south himself. Of course, this is not to deal with Liu Futong, but I heard that because the grain transport was cut off by Xuzhou and the sea transport was cut off by Fang Guozhen, this year there are famines all over the city, and some people in the city have already started to eat each other. So Tuotuo's primary goal must be to open up the grain transport channel first.

"Tuotuo has been recruiting soldiers since the first month of this year. We are far away in Huainan and have very little information. Up to now, I only know that he has recruited tens of thousands of salt workers as soldiers. But judging from the current situation, Xuzhou Zhima Li is said to have hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Tuotuo wants to open up the canal transportation route, so the number of soldiers he brings will naturally not be small, at least 200,000 to 300,000.

“And he will definitely come south not too late. I predict that he will come at the latest during the autumn harvest this year, because if we can’t get food, the people of Dadu will all starve to death.

"Then, according to this analysis of the situation, there will be a problem. Tuotuo must open up the canal transportation for the grain of Jiangnan. However, if in September, he has just defeated Zhima Li and recovered Xuzhou, and opened up the canal transportation, but the grain-producing land in Jiangdong has fallen into our hands, then Tuotuo still cannot get the grain, and we will have to face the revenge of the Yuan court in person."

"." Feng Guoyong and Li Shanchang were also numb upon hearing this. Facing the wrath of the Yuan court, if they were allowed to develop for another three years, they might not be afraid.

But according to Bao Yu, they had just captured Jinling and had not yet established a firm foothold in Jiangnan. Xuzhou Zhima Li had just been destroyed, and they had to bear Tuotuo's wrath alone. This was a bit troublesome. Even if you gave them half a year to develop,
But the fact is that there is no time for development.

Lu Jin also closed his eyes and began to think. The current situation seemed to be increasingly different from the original history, and it was a bit beyond his control. Therefore, he could no longer rely so much on history. He could not panic and had to rely on his own analysis.

What is the biggest difference between the present and the original history? It is the Huaixi force. In the original history, it was Zhu Yuanzhang, but now it is Lu Jin. The time when the Huaixi force crossed the river was greatly advanced.

According to the original history, Zhu Yuanzhang crossed the river in 1355. At that time, Xuzhou had been massacred by Toghto. In 53, Zhang Shicheng rebelled and occupied Gaoyou City. Then there was the outrageous record in history books. Toghto led a million-strong coalition force of Han and Goryeo to attack Gaoyou. In the end, Toghto ended up with a similar fate to Yue Fei. He was exiled to Guangdong by an edict of Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty. Not long after, he was poisoned to death and died.

After Toghto's death, the Yuan court's million-strong army collapsed in an instant, and a large number of Yuan soldiers defected to the Red Turban Army. Tian Feng, deputy commander of the Eastern Army of the Longfeng Northern Expedition, joined at that time.

After Zhang Shicheng resisted Toghto and caused the defeat of the Yuan court's central army, he gained a huge amount of military reinforcements and great prestige. He originally wanted to cross the river to capture Nanjing and achieve hegemony, but his brother advised him to attack Suzhou and Hangzhou first because Suzhou and Hangzhou were rich enough. So Zhang Shicheng led his troops south to attack Suzhou and Hangzhou.

More than a year later, Zhu Yuanzhang began to cross the river. That is to say, when Zhu crossed the river, there were no powerful enemies nearby. At least the Yuan court could no longer send out central troops and could only rely on local warlords to suppress the Red Turban Army.

So, to be frank, Zhu Yuanzhang fought against local warlords. Except for the defense of Haozhou, when he resisted the pressure from the Jialu Division of the Central Army, he hardly ever had any contact with the Yuan Dynasty Central Army.
There is another thing. Tuotuo’s death should be a huge turning point in the history of the late Yuan Dynasty.

If the chaotic times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty can be divided into four stages, then the period before Tuotuo's death was the first stage.

At this time, the Yuan court still had enough strength to mobilize the central army to suppress the various Red Turban Armies. After Toghto's death, the Yuan court no longer had the direct power to suppress the Red Turban Army and could only continue to delegate power to civilian armed forces and ask them to help suppress the Red Turban Army. This was the second stage of the chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the warlords' fighting.

The second stage is also the poison circle stage of the Southern Division Chicken Contest. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhang Shicheng, and Chen Youliang have not met yet. They are all expanding and encroaching on the Yuan court's territory in the south until the three parties meet in the final circle and start the third stage, the Southern Division final circle chicken contest. In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang won and integrated all the territories in the south, and then started the fourth stage, the Northern Expedition stage.

After clarifying the timeline, and looking at the current situation, we will suddenly find that it is almost impossible for Lu Jin to cross the river during this period.
The timeline of crossing the river was moved forward from 1355 to 1352, three years earlier. At this time, Xuzhou Zhima Li was still there, and the people of Xuzhou had not been massacred. If nothing unexpected happened, Zhang Shicheng would start an uprising next year, and the Yuan army in Jiangnan would be led away by Xu and Song. The military strength in Jiangnan was still "empty". It can be said that this time was indeed the best time to attack Jiangnan.

But after taking over Jiangnan, things would become difficult. Lu Jin would have to face the pressure from the central government of the Yuan Dynasty alone. The "million-strong army" in the original history might very likely fall on him.

No, no, Lu Jin suddenly realized that he seemed to have misunderstood the focus of the contradiction. In addition to those time nodes in the original history, he seemed to have overlooked a very important thing, food, yes, food!

The reason why Tuotuo wanted to attack Xuzhou was to restore the grain transport, and the purpose of restoring the grain transport was to supply food to the south of the Yangtze River.

Xuzhou was massacred, the grain transport was resumed, Tuotuo withdrew his troops, Zhang Shicheng revolted, and the grain transport was interrupted again.
Yes, there is an important thing in the middle, which was overlooked by Lu Jin. That is, after the massacre in Xuzhou, Tuotuo returned to Dadu. He had a premonition that there must be people in that broken place of Jianghuai who would rebel. Fang Guozhen was not a good guy either. He rebelled and surrendered at times and was not honest at all. Both the canal and sea transportation were unreliable. If the people of Dadu wanted to have enough food, they could not rely solely on the food from the south of the Yangtze River. They still had to rely on growing their own food.

Therefore, from the end of 1352 to the first half of 1353, Tuotuo, the most powerful minister, promoted himself to the position of Minister of Agriculture on the basis of being the Prime Minister and Grand Tutor, and conscripted a large number of civilians from Henan, Shandong, Jianghuai, and forced them to go to Hebei to cultivate the land. The cost was so huge that it is said that the cost of this cultivation alone was 2.5 times higher than the cost of Jia Lu's project to control the Yellow River.
According to historical records, the area from Cangzhou, Hebei in the south to Shanhaiguan in the east, from Taihang Mountains in the west to Yanshan Mountains in the north was all within the scope of Tuotuo's military farming this time.

Moreover, the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty was a rare warm period. The warm climate brought heavy rainfall to the north. In addition to directly causing the Yellow River to burst its banks, it also brought some benefits to the north. That is, rice could be grown in Hebei at that time. Yes, rice.

Therefore, in 1353, under the strong supervision of Tuotuo, the military farming began to show results. Dadu almost achieved self-sufficiency that year and its dependence on food from the south was not so high.

So, what is the core contradiction? Or why did Tuotuo attack the South? Because of food shortage.

But if the military farming in the north was successful and there was no shortage of food, why would they still have to fight the rebels in the south?

What does it matter if the Red Turban Army rebels or not? Guan Yuan Shundi's little iron pot is fine. He just needs to continue playing the Sixteen Heavenly Demon Dance with those Tantric evil monks.
(End of this chapter)