Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 265: Dead lips and cold teeth
The envoy sent to Xuzhou was Qin Li. This guy had just been appointed as the Right Governor of the Huainan Province a few days ago, and his residence had not yet moved. The provincial government actually overlapped with the residence. Anyway, there was not much to do during this period of time, so Lu Jin simply let him go on the mission.

After the meeting, before moving with his wife, Lu Jin specifically called Qin Li over to give him some instructions in person. He then gave him instructions on the mission and asked him to pass on a message to Zhu Liangzu when he went to Haozhou, asking him to pay attention to guard against the possible Yuan army coming, but to remember that he was only allowed to defend and not attack, and certainly not to kill the enemy's main general.

Such a strange order was naturally intended to prevent Zhu Liangzu and others from mistakenly killing Dong Tuanxiao. Dong Tuanxiao was the key figure in the counterattack on Hangzhou in the original history and drove Xu Song all the way back to Dabie Mountains. He had to keep this person, otherwise the plan to lure Xu Song away from the mountain might not be completed.

The sphere of influence of the Xuzhou righteous army was closest to the Shengwu Army in Wuhe County, which was only 60 miles away from Haozhou. Both cities were on the banks of the Huai River, but Haozhou was on the southern bank of the upper reaches, while Wuhe was on the northern bank of the lower reaches.

On the second day of June, a fast horse crossed the river from Haozhou and galloped to the city of Wuhe, but was immediately stopped by the gatekeepers. When they learned that the soldiers were from the Shengwu Army, they immediately informed the defenders in the city.

The person stationed in Wuhe County was a Wanhu official named Cheng Liangbi, who was said to be a subordinate of Zhou Pengfei among the eight people who captured Xuzhou at night.

Although he was a commander of ten thousand households, he actually had only three thousand men under his command. After all, Wuhe was the southernmost part of the entire Xuzhou forces, and it was adjacent to the Shengwu Army. The cities on the east and west sides were also Xuzhou's cities, so they were considered to be relatively rear cities, and there was really no need to garrison too many people.

When the messenger saw Cheng Liangbi coming out in person, he clasped his fists and said, "Meet General Cheng."

"Which unit of the Holy Army are you from? What do you want from me?"

The messenger said hurriedly, "I am here to deliver a letter on the orders of General Lu. My commander has important matters to discuss with General Li of your army. He wants to send an envoy to Xuzhou. Please inform General Cheng as soon as possible. If General Li of your army agrees, please inform us immediately. Our army will send an envoy immediately. This is an urgent military situation, so please don't neglect it."

Cheng Liangbi frowned and asked, "How many envoys are there?"

"Including the messengers and guards, there are a hundred people in total."

"Okay, you wait in the city first, I'll send someone to inform you."

"Thank you."

Wuhe is only 400 miles away from Xuzhou. Xuzhou's messenger changed horses along the way and it took only a day and a half to deliver the message to Zhima Li. Zhima Li's real name was Li Er. He did not change his name after the rebellion. When he heard that Lu Jin was going to send an envoy, he was a little surprised and said, "Urgent military information? Then why did he look for me?"

Zhao Junyong and Peng Da were also stationed in Xuzhou with him. Upon hearing the news, Peng Da said, "Since he sent someone to pass on the message and even sent another envoy, he is quite polite. He probably doesn't want to fight us. Why not meet him? After all, there is only one envoy."

Zhao Junyong also nodded on the side. Seeing that both of them agreed, Zhima Li then asked someone to reply and agreed to let the envoy come.

Another day later, Qin Li set out from Wuhe with a hundred armored cavalrymen. Qin Li was wearing a red civil official's round-necked robe, and the hundred armored cavalrymen were wearing cloth armor of different colors, red, yellow, white, blue, and black, with twenty cavalrymen of each color. They ran all the way with great fanfare. Many soldiers and civilians watched along the way, which was also intended to show the strength of the Shengwu Army.

Four days later, everyone arrived in Xuzhou. Qin Li was immediately received by Li Er. The one hundred armored cavalrymen also attracted the attention of Xuzhou soldiers in the city. After all, the armor was so neat, standardized, and uniform, and the style was also very novel. With the two iron arms, it looked very sophisticated. Some Xuzhou generals even came forward to talk to them, wanting to see their armor.

Outside, the Xuzhou generals and soldiers were discussing equipment with the Shengwu Army's cavalry. In the lobby of the Xuzhou government office, Zhima Li was reading Lu Jin's handwritten letter, with Peng Da and Zhao Junyong also accompanying them.

The content of the letter is outrageous. My goodness, it is almost an outline of a defensive war strategy.

It begins by saying that Lu Jin has received reliable information that as Xuzhou has blocked the grain transport and Fang Guozhen has blocked the sea transport, Dadu has been out of food for more than half a year. In the first half of this year, people have begun to starve to death in Dadu, and there have even been tragic cases of cannibalism.

It is none of our business how miserable the people in Dadu are, but the Yuan court will never sit idly by and watch this situation continue. Tuotuo has already begun recruiting soldiers within the Secretariat (Hebei and Shandong) and is preparing to go south to open up the canal transportation. The time may be September, and your Xuzhou will be the first to bear the brunt, because you are next to the canal.

However, they are all Red Turbans, volunteers, brothers, and friendly forces. Lu Jin does not want to sit idly by and watch his friendly brothers perish, so he specially dispatched envoys to remind everyone in Xuzhou to make early preparations to resist the enemy. It would be best to reinforce the city of Xuzhou, dig some trenches outside the city, and build urn cities. It would be best to do the same for other cities under Xuzhou.

In addition, the Mongols liked to massacre people in cities. If women, children, the elderly and the weak were left in the city, the local soldiers defending the city would probably lose their will to fight. It would be best to evacuate the people in advance and evacuate all the women, children, the elderly and the weak in Xuzhou to various cities south of Xuzhou, leaving only heavy troops and young and strong civilians in Xuzhou. This would reduce the consumption of food and firewood and enable the city to hold out longer, and it would stabilize the morale of the army.

As long as the families of the local soldiers are evacuated in advance and they have no worries, the enemy's threats of massacre will not scare them, and the soldiers can defend the city with all their might.

If you really cannot defend the city, you can abandon it and retreat, but you must try to hold on for long enough.

You must know that Xuzhou is the largest and most solid city under your command. If you cannot greatly weaken the enemy's morale in Xuzhou, then even if you retreat to other cities, you may not be able to defend them.

Therefore, even if they wanted to retreat, they could only give up Xuzhou after they could no longer defend it and had consumed a large number of enemies under the city.

Then use Suzhou as the second line of defense, lure the enemy deep into your territory, prepare fresh troops, outflank the enemy's flanks and rear from both wings, and launch a defensive counterattack. Only in this way can you win this time, otherwise you will surely lose.

Another point is that the city of Xuzhou is tall and huge. As long as the defenders are determined to hold on, it will be difficult for the ants to break through the city. Be careful of the enemy attacking by digging tunnels or using heavy catapults to smash the city.

If the enemy uses heavy fennel cannon, it is best to make cannons with cannons, build larger fennel cannons in advance, and deploy them in the city. In time of war, give priority to destroying the artillery vehicles of the besieging party, or prepare a mobile suicide squad outside the city to attack at night or burn the enemy's artillery vehicles.

In addition, don't defend too rigidly. Scout to the north as much as possible. Once you find that the Yuan army is moving south, make preparations in advance. It is best to win a small victory outside the city first, and launch a sneak attack when the enemy's camp is not solid and their foothold is not stable. It doesn't matter how many wins you win. What is important is to boost your own morale and defeat the enemy's spirit.

If you have enough troops, it is recommended to keep an elite force and place them farther away. When the enemy is stationed in a fortified city, find a way to sneak attack their food supply route from behind.

Finally, as friendly brothers, although we cannot send troops to help you fight, we will try our best to provide help within our capacity. In addition to the above intelligence and enemy strategies, we will also send you a model of a gravity catapult. You can find a craftsman to imitate and build it yourself, place it in the city, and prepare more arrows and stones.

I can also support you with 10,000 sets of armor, but it was not easy to get these armors. Although it is support, I can't give them to you for free. You have to exchange them. I know you are short of food, so I don't want food, but cotton and cloth, salt, or cattle, horses, donkeys, mules and other livestock. If it's not possible, pigs and sheep are also OK, but at least 1,000 horses (preferably mares) are needed, otherwise, no deal, you can talk to the envoy about the rest. There was a thick stack of letter paper, which was enough for several pages. Zhima Li finished reading one and handed it to Peng Da and Zhao Junyong next to him. When he finished reading, the other two had almost finished reading.

The three of them all frowned as they watched, and after reading it they couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, then looked at Qin Li curiously and asked.

"Why did you, Coach Lu, help us?"

Qin Li then said, "The commander-in-chief said that brothers fight within the walls, but we should defend ourselves from external humiliation. In today's world, although the various rebel armies are not subordinate to each other, they are all brothers. Now we should focus on destroying the Yuan Dynasty. If we sit back and watch our friendly armies being destroyed, it will not be a good thing for any rebel army.

"You must know the principle of lips and teeth being cold. Your army is to the north of our army. If the Yuan court's Dadu army moves south, and we do nothing and watch your army annihilate, then we will definitely be the next one to fall. Who will come to help us then? So helping your army is helping ourselves."

Upon hearing this, Li Er sighed, "Brother Lu is very righteous. If all the righteous armies in the world think like him, there is no need to worry about the destruction of the Yuan Dynasty and the rise of the Han Dynasty. However, I don't know if your army's news is true. Will Yuan Prime Minister Tuotuo really lead the Dadu Army to attack Xuzhou in September? Do you know how many troops he has?"

Qin Li could only explain, "We don't know how many troops there are. Our army is further south than yours, so we may not be able to get news from Dadu as quickly as yours. But if nothing unexpected happens, Tuotuo will send out his troops in September. After all, these grassland Tartars always hold the idea of ​​fighting in autumn when the horses are fat.

"But we are also trying to find ways to create some favorable changes in the time it takes for Tuotuo to go south."

The three of them were all puzzled. Why could they understand every word this person said, but not understand what they meant when they were put together?
Zhao Junyong immediately asked impatiently, "Please explain clearly what you mean by causing some beneficial changes."

Qin Li looked around and saw that the guards were all at the door, so he lowered his voice and said, "The change that is beneficial to us is naturally to find a way to delay his march south. If Tuotuo comes a month later, our city wall can be raised an extra 10 feet, and we can also build a few more sets of armor, and the soldiers can be trained to be more powerful.

"So the later Tuotuo comes, the better. This way, we will have more time to prepare. In order to achieve this delaying tactic, we have also done some things, but we don't know how effective it will be yet. So, generals, it's best to prepare according to the time of September when we will face the enemy."

"You also used a delaying tactic on Tuotuo? What was the tactic? Can you tell us?" Peng Da asked curiously.

"First of all, I can't tell you. Secondly, I really don't know. I am not responsible for this matter. My Marshal Lu never told me about it. He just said that he had thought of a way to make him come later. Maybe he can only delay it to October or November, maybe only one or two months. I hope that all generals can make full use of this time and prepare for war in advance. Otherwise, it will be a pity if Tuotuo breaks the city in one fell swoop." Qin Li could only reveal it vaguely.

Zhao Junyong wanted to ask more questions after hearing this, but Li Er raised his hand to stop him.

"Okay, since Brother Lu is unwilling to say more, I think this is a secret and he must be in trouble. Please thank Brother Lu for his kindness when you go back. Thank him for telling us this news and his strategies for defending the city. I will consider them."

Qin Li said quickly, "I will convey it truthfully."

Li Er pointed to the catapult model placed on one side of the lobby and said, "I already know what this fennel cannon looks like, but I don't know how you plan to deliver the 10,000 sets of armor that Brother Lu mentioned? I don't know what style the armor is, is it the kind worn by those brave cavalrymen outside the door?"

Qin Li immediately shook his head, "Of course not, that is the armor produced by our army, only for our army's own use. The iron armor my commander mentioned was all captured from the Yuan army, but the number of these iron armors is also very limited, and most of them are still in use by our army, so we can't send them all at once. We have to wait until we produce new armor and replace these old armors before we can support your army.

"So what my commander-in-chief means is that there are still three months to September, and we can provide 2,000 sets of armor every month. If Tuotuo doesn't come in September, we will still provide 2,000 sets per month, and pay them off in five months. If Tuotuo shows signs of heading south in September, we will try to pay them off in August. However, these armors still need to be exchanged for your military supplies. I wonder if this method is feasible?

"If Marshal Li agrees, you can send someone to follow me back. We will hand over the supplies and the armor in the north of Haozhou. This month, our army can provide 2,000 sets of armor. How do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Li Er immediately looked at Peng Da and Zhao Junyong. They both nodded slightly, thinking it was okay. Li Er then said, "Then let's do as the envoy said. I just don't know the price of this armor?"

Qin Li immediately took out a price list and handed it over, which made Li Er frown. No one had ever bought or sold armor before. Although he didn't know what the price should be, he felt that Lu Jin's price was not low.

For example, the full set of iron armor with a helmet shown above requires two cows, or a mare, or two mules, or four donkeys.

If there are no livestock, other materials can be used, such as two stones of cotton wool, fifty pieces of cotton cloth, or ten stones of salt for a suit of armor.

After reading it, Li Er immediately said, "Isn't the price your army proposed a bit high? Didn't Brother Lu say that we are all brothers in the righteous army and we want to support us?"

Qin Li immediately explained, "The commander didn't want so much originally, but the soldiers are still wearing these armors. If we want them to take them off and support the friendly forces first, they won't agree easily.

"Besides, the price is not that high. If we only consider the weight of the iron, it is naturally not worth that much, but the craftsmanship and time are very valuable. Moreover, there has never been a trade in armor in this world. Let me ask you, in this world, besides my general who is willing to sell ready-made armor to your army, can General Li find another one?"

Hearing that Zhima Li complained that the price was too high, Zhao Junyong and Peng Da also stood up and came to his side to look at the list. On the entire list, perhaps only exchanging horses was the most cost-effective, and the others looked outrageous.

Zhao Junyong was a little unhappy after reading it, "Why does it say that mares are the best? If your commander Lu really wants to support the friendly forces, why would he make such conditions to deliberately make things difficult for us? Where can we find so many mares for him?"

Qin Li could only explain again, "General, please calm down. Our army has no intention of deliberately making things difficult for you. It's just that there was a horse farm in Luzhou before, and our commander-in-chief wanted to reopen the horse farm, but he lacked mares to give birth to foals. Therefore, the scale of the horse farm has not been expanded. So he wanted to take advantage of this transaction to exchange more mares. One more mare this year means one more foal next year, so he had this intention.

"If your army is interested in trading horses, then try to collect as many mares as possible. If you really can't get a thousand together, you can use stallions or other livestock.

"Our two armies are brothers. This is a good thing to help our allies and share what we have. If we create rifts over this, it will be bad. If you generals think it is unreasonable, we can still discuss it. Don't get angry."

Li Er also raised his hand to interrupt the quarrel and said, "The messenger is right. Our armies are brothers and we should share what we have. We are short of armor and Brother Lu wants to run a horse farm. So we should share what we have and each of us should get what we need. We will try our best to find it for him. Let's make it a deal."

(End of this chapter)