Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 272: Hangzhou Falls
"We'll talk about the South Route Commander later. Let's see how he performs first."

After Lu Jin said this, everyone understood that it meant that a candidate had been chosen, but further observation was needed.

Chang Yuchun, who was unaware that he was being targeted by Lu Jin, was currently on the shore of Chaohu Lake, discussing tactics with Yang Huan of the Imperial Guard Brigade and Liu Chuanyi of the Navy.

"Wow, this is a cannon. Such a big lump of iron must weigh one or two thousand pounds. Why is it called a 23-pound cannon?" Chang Yuchun asked while stroking the heavy cannon of the artillery camp.

"The size of a cannon is determined by the weight of the shells it fires. 23 pounds refers to the iron ball it can fire, which is this thing. One ball weighs 23 pounds." Yang Jing opened the lid of the ammunition truck next to him and pointed at the shells inside as he introduced them.

"But even if they are of the same caliber, they can be divided into two types, flat-fire cannons and howitzers, depending on the length of the barrel. The 23-jin cannon used by our Guards Artillery Battalion is a short-barreled howitzer, which is also used to reduce weight. Otherwise, it would probably take eight to ten horses to pull it. A short-barreled howitzer only needs six horses."

"Tsk, it sounds complicated. There are actually so many types. How many miles can this thing shoot this 23-jin iron bullet?" Chang Yuchun asked curiously.

"It can fire nearly three miles away. If the flower grenade is opened, it can fire more than four miles away."

Chang Yuchun was amazed when he heard this. "Tsk, this is amazing! This thing is much more powerful than the fennel cannon and the catapult. The main thing is that it has wheels and can be pulled by horses to march with the army. It can be used in field battles and sieges. It is much more convenient than the fennel cannon."

Yang Jing added, "Not only that, the fennel can't be aimed, and you don't know where the stones will land after flying out, but the cannon can be aimed. Within two miles, it can hit whatever you point it at. It can hit the door bolt, never the door threshold, and the enemy's banner, never his flag. Whether it's attacking a city or breaking through a gate, it's a good hand."

The generals were greatly surprised when they heard this, "How can this thing shoot so accurately from a distance of miles? Has it ever been used in actual combat on the battlefield?" Yu Tonghai asked immediately.

Yang Huan nodded immediately, "Yes, we have fought in actual combat. Last time, the Marshal led us to attack Anqing. When we were halfway across the wooden bridge of Shahe River, the Marshal asked us to cut off the connection between the enemy troops on both sides of the bridge. At that time, our artillery team only had ten guns, six 14-jin field guns, two 23-jin howitzers, and two -jin heavy howitzers.

"It was just like this. We were two miles away, and we only used two heavy artillery pieces to fire in turns. The shells always hit the bridge and exploded, and wood chips and iron pieces flew everywhere. No enemy dared to cross the bridge."

"That's amazing. You are only 15 this year. I didn't expect that you have achieved military merits at such a young age. You didn't bring shame to your elder brother." Yu Tonghai praised.

"Hehe, it's still the Marshal who taught me well. My skills are still far from good enough. I need to learn more from you." Yang Huan also grabbed his head and grinned foolishly.

Chang Yuchun continued to ask, "Are your cannons the same as those of the navy?"

"Except for the different gun mounts, the guns are the same. Ours is designed to be pulled by horses, so the wheels are higher. The navy's gun mounts are lower, so it's easier to operate on the deck.

"However, the navy has one more type of revolving sub-cannon than us. We load ammunition from the front, and after firing, we have to clean the chamber and reload again, which makes firing slower. The navy's revolving sub-cannon is loaded from the back. One main gun is equipped with six sub-cannons. After firing, you can directly change the sub-cannons and continue firing. The firing rate is much faster than ours.

"But that kind of submachine gun cannot be made big, and its power and range are not good enough. It is not good enough for siege or field battle. But when used in close combat on a ship, it has a much greater advantage than the enemy's bows and crossbows. Therefore, the Marshal did not equip our land division with submachine guns." Yang Huan introduced again.

"So that's how it is." Chang Yuchun nodded in understanding and made an evaluation of the artillery in his mind.

This is a heavy weapon that is similar to the trebuchet in function, but it is easier to use than the trebuchet. It can keep up with the main force's march and does not take as long to prepare as the trebuchet. It can be put into combat anytime and anywhere. Its power, rate of fire, and hit rate are far higher than those of the trebuchet. It is indeed very suitable for breaking through formations in the field or attacking cities.

I was admiring Lu Jin's ability in making weapons when I heard his voice behind me.

"What are you talking about?" Lu Jin came over with Yang Jing and others.

When the generals saw that it was Lu Jin, they hurriedly said, "General."

"We are discussing the use and power of this artillery."

"If you want to see its power, didn't you ask Hua Gao and Tong Yuan to prepare? Is the shooting range set up?" Lu Jin asked, looking at the lakeshore in the distance.

Upon hearing this, Hua Gao immediately emerged from the crowd not far away and said, "Marshal, the shooting range has been set up. I asked Tong Yuan to mobilize the ship."

"Okay, then wait and see. Gunpowder is precious and should not be wasted. You will all watch carefully. This time, I will let you fire the cannons to increase your confidence when crossing the river. With so many cannons leading the way, getting ashore is definitely not as difficult as you think."

"Yes!" all the generals responded in unison.

After a while, Yu Tongyuan dispatched a gunboat and directed the crew to adjust their position. From a distance of two miles, they aimed their side bows at the target area set up in advance on the shore, where a bunch of scarecrows and firewood bundles were inserted to simulate the enemy's phalanx.

After Yu Tongyuan finished his preparations and sent out a signal, Lu Jin immediately ordered the artillery to fire. In an instant, the 16 cannons on the two lower floors of the ship were ignited one after another, emitting a continuous roar.

Boom boom boom boom boom——

With a burst of cannon fire, one shrapnel grenade after another flew out from the white smoke at the muzzle and flew straight towards the group of straw man targets on the shore. The next moment, the fuse of the shell burned out, and the black gunpowder loaded by pounds in the iron shell exploded violently, making a loud noise like thunder.

Instantly the field was filled with smoke and shrapnel flew everywhere. When the lake breeze blew away the smoke, hundreds of straw men and firewood bundles were seen lying on the ground in a mess. Some of the straw men that were still stuck in the ground had their limbs broken and were burning with flames.

The generals who were watching from the sidelines were all silent and stunned.

After the pre-war meeting, the generals of the 37th Army returned to their original positions, actively training and preparing for war while waiting for Lu Jin's assembly order.

Lu Jin stayed in Chao County, accompanying Zhang Yunxiu and waiting for the birth of the child, while asking Bao Yu to collect intelligence from all sides and keep an eye on the movements in all directions.

Finally, a few days later, around the third day of July, a piece of intelligence came from Anqing. After receiving it, Bao Yu immediately came to Lu Jin with an excited look on his face.

"General, He Jingchuan, the chief of the Huizhou Station of the Military Command Intelligence Bureau, sent a message that Xu Song has sent troops from Raozhou and Xinzhou in Jiangxi. They have now captured Qimen County and are attacking Yi County, Xiuning County, and She County, the capital of Huizhou Road. Once She County and Jixi are captured, Yuling Pass will be to the east. If they pass Yuling Pass, they will only be four cities away from Hangzhou."

Lu Jin picked up the map and took a look at it. There was no surprise on his face. Instead, he instructed, "We have just reached Qimen. It is hard to say whether they will go to Hangzhou at this time. The intelligence station must always pay attention to the movements of Xu Song's army. Go underground at the critical moment and never expose yourself. If there is no urgent intelligence, try to reduce activities and pay attention to your own safety." "Yes." Bao Yu responded quickly.

Lu Jin asked again, "Do you know if Peng Yingyu is in this Eastern Expedition Army?"

"We don't know yet, and the enemy has been attacking and marching, so it's difficult for us to obtain information about the enemy's generals." Bao Yu answered again.

Lu Jin nodded. The personnel at the fixed intelligence stations all had obvious cover identities, which were built up with great difficulty, so they naturally could not run around. If the enemy troops settled down, they could still find ways to spy on them. But if the enemy troops were always on the march, there would be nothing they could do, and they would have to rely on scouts.

So Lu Jin thought for a moment and gave another instruction, "Have Huizhou Station pay attention to the movements of Xu Song's eastern army to see if they will attack Hangzhou next. Have Changzhou Station also send someone to Hangzhou to keep an eye on it. I want to know the specific date when Xu Song will capture Hangzhou.

"Tell the people at Jiqing Station to stay alert and pay attention to the movements of the Yuan court officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, as well as any movement of Yuan troops in Jiqing Road and Taiping Road. If there are any unusual movements, report them immediately."

"Yes."

Two days later, on the fifth day of July, news came again, but this time it was not from the intelligence station, but a warning message from Zhu Liangzu's 36th Army. Dong Tuanxiao, the governor of Jining Road of the Yuan court, was leading an army of nearly people and was attacking Lai'an City.

Dong Tuanxiao stationed his troops at Walianlei and set up camp, relying on the Chushui River to transport grain and using Liuhe County as his logistics base. After setting up the camp, he immediately launched a fierce attack on Lai'an.

However, the one stationed in Lai'an was Yu Tongyuan, and under him were powerful generals such as Tang He, Hu Hai, and Xi Guobao. They had been stationed in Lai'an for a long time, and the city walls had been reinforced long ago, with two-story arrow towers and urn cities added.

Lai'an City itself is not very big, and can be described as a 'small but strong city'. This kind of city is the most difficult to attack. Lu Jin had approved a thousand grenades for them before, but this was only the first day, and it was far from the time to use the grenades.

As soon as the enemy arrived, Yu Tongyuan reported the news to the rear, and is now commanding the main force of the Seventh Regiment to defend the city.

But they were just giving a warning to the rear. Dong Tuanxiao had less than 20,000 men, so it was not necessary for him to ask for help. You should know that Lu Jin had deployed heavy troops on the northern defense line.

The 106th Division of Liao Yongzhong was responsible for the defense of Lai'an and Chuzhou. Liao Yongzhong led the 18th Regiment to be stationed in Chuzhou. Yu Tongyuan led the 7th Regiment to guard Lai'an in front, and Zhao Zhongzhong's th Regiment was stationed outside the city. The three divisions supported each other and covered each other. Three regiments guarding two cities was absolutely foolproof.

As expected, on the day when Lu Jin received the news that Lai'an was attacked, Liao Yongzhong commanded the entire 106th Division to launch a counterattack. Taking advantage of the fact that Dong Tuanxiao had withdrawn his troops at night and had not yet established a stable foothold, he ordered Zhao Zhongzhong's 10th Regiment to launch a night attack from behind Dong Tuanxiao.

The Tenth Regiment had a battalion commander named Wang Bi, the Double-Swordsman. He was the real hero in the victory of Buir Lake in history. He was skilled in using double swords and was a rare and fierce general.

That night, Wang Bi led the 10th regiment, rolled up his armor and advanced with his mouth shut. Holding a long-handled saber, he led his troops to rush into Dong Tuanxiao's camp first, setting fire everywhere and causing chaos. If he hadn't figured out the layout of Dong Tuanxiao's camp, he would have almost killed Dong Tuanxiao directly in his tent.

However, Dong Tuanxiao was a man who knew military affairs after all. If he did not have some real skills, he would not have been able to fight all the way from Hangzhou to Jiangxi in the original history and personally command the siege and killing of Peng Yingyu. This guy was still somewhat prepared. At least among his 20,000 troops, 3,000 were elite soldiers he brought from Jining Road and had been trained for more than half a year.

Under the night attack by Zhao Zhongzhong's ten regiments, Dong Tuanxiao's three thousand elite soldiers were able to form a battle formation without panic. Although they could not fight back under the attack of the chaotic soldiers, they were able to protect Dong Tuanxiao's retreat, and gathered the defeated soldiers while retreating. By the next morning, they had actually gathered several thousand people for him. Together with the three thousand elite soldiers he brought with him, the total strength was still over ten thousand.

However, Liao Yongzhong had studied with Lu Jin for so long that he obviously would not let him go so easily. If Lu Jin had not issued an order before, only to repel Dong Tuanxiao and not to harm his life, it is likely that none of Dong Tuanxiao's 20,000 troops would be able to return.

That night, when Zhao Zhongzhong led the Tenth Regiment to launch a surprise attack on Dong Tuanxiao's camp, Liao Yongzhong was not idle either. He sent a combat battalion of 900 people under Xia Xingzu, who took a boat from Chuzhou and went downstream along the Chushui River to launch a surprise attack on Dong Tuanxiao's logistics base in Walianlei. They intercepted 17 of Dong Tuanxiao's grain transport ships and more than 40 empty ships, and captured hundreds of people. The military rations in the Walianlei camp were also burned by Xia Xingzu.

Dong Tuanxiao was furious when he heard the news. He failed to capture a single city and instead lost half of his troops in a night attack. The food supplies at the logistics base were also attacked and all the military rations were lost. However, without food, he could not fight any further for the time being and could only retreat to Liuhe County to confront Liao Yongzhong.

Lu Jin received news of Lai'an's attack the day before, and the next day he received news of a great victory for the 106th Division, in which nearly 17 Yuan soldiers were killed or captured, ships of grain and supplies were seized, and an enemy grain station was burned. Now Dong Tuanxiao has retreated to Liuhe, and everything is peaceful for the time being, so they did not pursue him.

What could Lu Jin say? He could only praise them for a job well done. At the same time, he once again reminded them to be vigilant and not to pursue Dong Tuanxiao, but to let him go. The thousands of prisoners captured would be temporarily sent to Dingyuan for custody, and Feng Sheng's 14th Regiment training officer would do some ideological work on them, which would be useful after a while.

Dong Tuanxiao's side did not lose any of its 3,000 main forces, and the nearly 10,000 soldiers who were lost were all temporarily recruited. It was only a small loss, and he did not feel bad about it. However, he felt a little painful because the food he had collected with great difficulty was gone.

However, through this battle, Dong Tuanxiao also figured out the tactics of the Shengwu Army. The Lai'an and Chuzhou frontlines were not a single entity, but were under unified command and formed a whole. Moreover, there were at least 20,000 rebels stationed in these two cities. Also, the Chushui River was not safe as the rebels controlled the upper reaches. Next time, the grain station must not be placed on the river bank, and it would be best to transport grain by land.

Moreover, the next time we attack, we must prepare at least 50,000 troops, and divide the troops into two groups to attack Lai'an and Chuzhou at the same time to prevent them from supporting each other.

Dong Tuanxiao's plan was very good, but I don't know if he will have the chance to attack Lai'an again.
Five days later, on the tenth day of July, news came from Luzhou that the envoy of Xu Song had come again. The person who came was Chen Puwen who had come last time.

This time Xu Shouhui spent a lot of money and found a 15-year-old sister among his distant relatives. He wanted to make her a princess and marry her to Lu Jin. He also promised to give Lu Jin the title of a prince. However, these things could not be revealed openly and could only be said in person when he met Lu Jin.

So before Chen Puwen met Lu Jin, he had to keep it to himself. He asked Qin Li about Lu Jin's whereabouts, as well as where all the civil and military officials in the Marshal's Mansion had gone, and why half of Lu Jin's guards were missing?
Qin Li followed Lu Jin's previous instructions and said that Dong Tuanxiao was attacking the line from Lai'an to Chuzhou, and Lu Jin personally led the imperial guards to support him and could not come back for the time being.

In fact, Lu Jin didn't go anywhere. He just stayed in Chao County. Every day he received a letter sent by Qin Li, reporting what Chen Puwen had done that day.

After staying in Luzhou for two days, Chen Puwen could not stay any longer. The situation in Xu and Song was difficult and they were being attacked by the Yuan court every moment. In fact, he had no idea that Peng Yingyu had already led his men to launch an eastern expedition on the first day of July. So he was very anxious and hoped to persuade Lu Jin to surrender as soon as possible.

So Chen Puwen asked Qin Li for permission to go to the front line to meet Lu Jin.

But Qin Li immediately refused, saying that if the envoy encountered an accident on the front line, they would not be able to explain to Xu Song, which would easily cause misunderstandings on both sides. Chen Puwen also understood this, so he could only control his temper and continue to wait, and inquire about Lu Jin's news and the battle situation on the Chuzhou front every day.

Finally, on July 18th, Bao Yu sent another message to Lu Jin.

The Changzhou Station of the Intelligence Bureau of the Military Command Department reported that in the 12th year of Zhizheng, the Xu Song East Route Army captured the important city of Hangzhou on July 13, and the Yuan court's Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces were shocked!

(End of this chapter)