Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 283 Conquering Dangtu
"One, two, three, bump!"

With a loud bang, Zhu Yuanzhang and others held a wooden stake and worked together to knock down a section of the brick wall facing the street. Guan Chen stretched his head to look at the street and found that no one had come here yet. He immediately waved to the back, and everyone hurried out and moved the knocked down brick wall and bricks to the yard.

Zhu Yuanzhang and his men searched the area nearby and found a horse-drawn carriage. They pushed it over and overturned it in the middle of the road to use as a barricade. They also found a few shelves and stalls left by vendors in the surrounding area and overturned them in the street to create a roadblock.

But these obstacles were placed very carefully. They were not piled together directly, but deliberately disguised as if they were accidentally knocked down by someone in a panic. This is to prevent the enemy from seeing at a glance that they were deliberately arranged, and they would definitely guess that there was an ambush nearby.

After all this was arranged, everyone entered the yard again and looked at the prisoner they had captured before. Guan Chen glanced at the yard and saw a jujube tree, so he pulled the prisoner and tied him to the tree. Cui Jian also put a knife to the prisoner's neck and began to interrogate him.

The two archers Li Wu and Qian Hui also went up to the roof. Zhou Tong took four people to the back door, preparing to go around. Zhu Yuanzhang took the remaining six people and hid in the gap in the broken wall, preparing to rush out to rob.

In the main hall, the two young scholars were whispering something to the middle-aged man.

"Father, are we just going to let these rebels mess around in our house? They're pushing the wall and climbing up the roof."

The middle-aged man stroked his beard and said calmly, "Otherwise, what are you going to do? They are fully equipped with swords, spears, bows and arrows, and are wearing heavy armor. They even outnumber us. There are only three of us, father and son. Do you think we can defeat them or force them away?"

The eldest brother beside him also said, "Yes, brother Sheng, a real man should be able to bend and stretch, and should not be angry for a moment. Mother, your sister-in-law, and nephew are still at home. Besides, although these soldiers are rebels, they seem to have strict military discipline. Since they said they will not enter the house and just borrow the yard for use, you might as well pretend that you didn't see it, so as not to anger them and cause a tragedy of killing your family."

"But they are rebels. Besides, they don't go to so many other families but come to ours. What good can come of this?" The second brother said with some indignation.

The middle-aged man stroked his beard again, looked toward the courtyard outside the door, and whispered, "Let's take a look first."

Cui Jian put the knife on the neck of the bitter-faced captive and threatened him, "If you dare to shout or scream, I will kill you with a knife. Do you hear me?"

The prisoner nodded quickly.

Cui Jian then pulled the rag out of his mouth and asked, "Didn't you say you had seen Nahachu? Tell us what Nahachu looked like, how old he was, what clothes he was wearing today, what horse he was riding, and what armor he was wearing. If you tell a lie, you will die."

"Wuwuwu. Please spare my life, my good men. I will tell you everything. I will tell you everything." The prisoner cried softly.

"Stop talking nonsense! Speak now!"

"Yes, yes, Lord Wanhu, no, no, it's Nahachu. I don't know his exact age, I only know that he is about twenty-five or twenty-six, at most less than thirty years old, with two Tartar braids, seven feet tall, and very strong. He doesn't have a long beard, only a small mustache on his upper lip." The prisoner replied hurriedly.

Zhu Chongba, who was listening nearby, added, "Where are the clothes, armor, and horses?"

"Today I am wearing a long, brown satin robe with a left lapel, plain in color, without any embroidery. I am wearing black boots, a suit of shiny silver armor, and riding a red horse."

Upon hearing this, Guan Chen also asked, "What kind of weapon does he use? How many personal soldiers does he have around him?"

"Nahachu has a bow and a sword, and uses a black lacquered spear. I don't know how many personal soldiers he has. I am of low status, so I really don't know this. He is a ten thousand household official, but he doesn't even know my name. I am also a Han Chinese. I beg you good men to spare my life."

Cui Jian felt that he could not get any more information out of him, so he stuffed the rag into his mouth again and threatened him with the knife, "Since you know that you are still Han Chinese, just be obedient. We will catch someone and ask you to identify him. If you make a contribution, you will benefit from it. If you dare to lie to us, you will not survive!"

“Mmmmm—” The prisoner nodded with a sad face upon hearing this.

Zhu Chongba and others also learned the specific information of Nahachu. They looked at each other, nodded, hid their bodies, and waited for Nahachu to pass by the street outside the courtyard. Success or failure today depended on this one move.

The father and his two sons in the main room were stunned at what they heard.

It turned out that these twelve rebel soldiers actually wanted to kill Nahachu, the main general of the Yuan army in Dangtu, here. They were so brave. I wonder what kind of reward the rebel marshal promised them to make these soldiers take such a risk.

The second son was even more shocked and angry at this time and asked, "Dad, these people want to kill the commander of the city, and we are just going to watch?"

The middle-aged man immediately glared at the second son and scolded in a low voice, "Otherwise, do you want to go out and report the news and cause our family to die together?"

"I didn't say I was going to report the news," the second brother muttered upon hearing this.

The middle-aged man stroked his beard and said, "I have heard that the Red Turbans in Luzhou are very powerful. In August and September last year, they first conquered Luzhou with a force of several thousand men from Chaohu, then conquered Lu'an, and defeated Kang Maocai. In a few months, they reached Hao and Chu in the north, Wanshui in the south, and the Yangtze River in the east.

"That Luzhou righteous army marshal has even greater ambitions. He has the ambition to drive out the Tartars, restore China, establish laws and disciplines, save the people, and support the world. Now he is following the example of Han Qinhu of the Sui Dynasty and crossing the river to capture Dangtu. Less than half an hour after the battle began, his soldiers have already attacked here. With only twelve people, they have the courage to capture and kill the enemy commander.

"I think we can't defend Dangtu City. We should make plans early."

The two sons couldn't help but widen their eyes when they heard this. This time, even the eldest son couldn't hold back any longer. "Father wants to follow the thieves? But father is an official appointed by the court! How can I follow the thieves?"

The middle-aged man stroked his beard and said, "An official appointed by the imperial court? He is just a mountain chief. Besides, I am still a Han Chinese. The world is in chaos now. The Yuan court is incompetent and the Red Turbans rule half of the country. I think the imperial court is going to fall. I am a Han Chinese Confucian scholar. Am I going to be buried with the barbarians? Why can't I join another family?"

The eldest brother was puzzled when he heard this, "Then why didn't father surrender when Xu Song's troops invaded Jiangnan?"

The middle-aged man continued, "There are four Red Turban rebel armies in the world, but only the Red Turbans of Luzhou have lofty ambitions and do not use demon religion to rule the people. Do I need to choose one?"

"."

It turned out that this middle-aged man was a famous local talent in Dangtu named Tao An. When he was young, he studied under the great scholar Li Xi of Dangtu. In the fourth year of Zhizheng, he passed the provincial examination in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and was appointed as the principal of Jinling Mingdao Academy, which was considered the principal of an official school in the Yuan Dynasty. He is 43 years old this year and has two sons, the eldest Tao Yu and the second Tao Sheng.

The eldest son Tao Yu has already married and had children, and the second son has not yet married. Tao An himself is not old, 43 years old is the prime of life. Now the world is in chaos and the Yuan Dynasty is about to end. Why can't he surrender to others? Besides, he has no loyalty to the Yuan court.

Just as the father and his two sons were discussing whether to surrender to the bandits, a shout of defeated soldiers was heard on the street outside the yard.

"Run! There are no enemy troops at the East Gate. Open the East Gate!"

"The bandits have some magic, run! Oh my god, hurry up and help me!"

"Fuck you, who turned the carriage over in the middle of the road? Isn't this blocking the road?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and others stood behind the gap in the courtyard wall, listening to the shouts of the defeated Yuan army outside, and then looked towards Li Wu on the roof. Li Wu leaned over and took a look, but found no target like Nahachu, so he shook his head at Zhu Yuanzhang.

So everyone kept calm and continued to hide, waiting for the prey to come. The Yuan army on the street outside the courtyard also escaped successfully and ran towards the east gate not far away. They quickly opened the east gate, lowered the drawbridge, and fled out of the city.

What they didn't know was that, because the battle at Caishiji was going smoothly, Ye Sheng had already landed with his cavalry and arrived at the east of Dangtu City, waiting for these defeated soldiers to leave the city. No matter how fast they ran, could they be faster than the cavalry? When these defeated soldiers got tired of running, they would be caught by the cavalry sooner or later.
Located in the center of the city, the Yuan army defending the city had been completely defeated and could no longer launch a counterattack on the South Gate and the West Gate. The defeated soldiers were chased all the way to the east and were eventually met by the musketeers of the Imperial Guard Brigade and the spearmen of the Fourth Regiment in the center of the city. The two armies blocked more than a thousand troops at a street intersection in the center of the city.

Qin Rong commanded his musketeers to form three rows of dense formations with a width of hundreds of men, raising his swords and shouting.

"First row, get ready! Fire!"

Bang bang bang bang bang bang——

After a intensive volley of musket fire, the Yuan soldiers in front fell down in a row. The Yuan soldiers behind were scared crazy and wanted to hide behind crying for their parents. On the other side of the street, Wu Fu was leading a battalion of spearmen, stabbing at the fleeing Yuan soldiers, killing them so badly that they were routed. The two armies completely blocked the Yuan soldiers at the crossroads, leaving them with no way to escape. Only then did Qin Rong shout loudly for surrender.

"Put down your weapons! You won't be killed if you surrender!"

On the other side of the Yuan army, Wu Fu was also trying to surrender.

"Those who surrender will be spared, put down your weapons immediately!"

Seeing that the Yuan army trapped in the middle was still hesitating, some idiot lit a grenade on the spot and threw it into the crowd of Yuan army. Such a dense crowd almost brought the power of the grenade to its limit, killing more than a dozen people on the spot. The Yuan army inside immediately cried out.

"Stop fighting, stop fighting, we surrender, we surrender, stop fighting, spare our lives"

As the Yuan army gradually surrendered, a group of Shengwu Army soldiers rushed in and asked.

"Who is Nahachu?"

"Where are the people of Nahachu? Come out quickly!" "Where are your Wanhu?"

"I don't know." The Yuan army prisoners who were asked all shook their heads.

Li Wang immediately waved his hand upon seeing this, "Everyone from the First Battalion of the Imperial Guards Brigade, follow me, and chase after them towards the East City!"

"Kill!"

The Shengwu Army came quickly and left quickly. Seeing that there was no target they wanted among the prisoners, they forced them to surrender and continued to chase towards the East City without caring about them. Only the Yuan army prisoners were left disheveled in the wind. They looked at each other and asked, "Who am I? Where am I? Is anyone caring about me?"

Fortunately, not long after, follow-up personnel came to pick them up and took them to a place for centralized custody.

Before long, the sound of sharp bamboo whistles, the shouts of spearmen, and the volleys of fire from musketeers could be heard in Dongcheng District.

Their target, Nahachu, was being escorted by a group of personal soldiers and was retreating towards the East City.

"We can't stop them. General, let's retreat quickly. The enemy soldiers didn't attack the east gate, so we can leave the city from the east gate."

Nahachu was shocked and angry at this time. He did not expect that the Shengwu Army would be so good at fighting. His hands holding the spears turned white from the clenching. Hearing this, he immediately became angry.

"I am the commander of this place, the descendant of King Lu, and was granted a title of Wan Hu by the imperial court thanks to my ancestors. I am ready to fight the enemy to the death. How can I abandon the city and flee?!"

The confidant immediately advised, "But the two southwest city gates have been lost, and the bandits have occupied half of the city. We really can't stop them. Moreover, the bandits are brave and they all want to capture you alive and reward you with a title. If you let them capture you alive, wouldn't it be a disgrace to our ancestors?

"There are still hundreds of thousands of troops in Jiankang. Let's escape first, gather the army, and then retake Dangtu. As long as we have the green mountains, we will not be afraid of running out of firewood. Let's retreat quickly, general."

Just as Nahachu was hesitating, a series of beeping bamboo whistles came from the intersection behind him. There was no response. Immediately, a soldier of the Shengwu Army stuck his head out to check the situation. When he saw the situation here, he immediately shouted.

"That's where Naha comes from! That's where Naha comes from!"

"Fire quickly!"

Bang bang bang bang bang bang——

A volley of musket fire caused the soldiers behind Nahachu to fall down. The confidant who had just persuaded Nahachu to leave immediately whipped his horse whip and hit the butt of Nahachu's mount, shouting, "General, retreat quickly. I will stop them! Kill the bandits to serve the country. Kill!"

After saying this, he raised his knife and rushed towards the musketeers of the Imperial Guards behind him.

Bang bang bang bang bang——

Another round of volleys knocked down another group of Yuan soldiers on the spot, but these soldiers of Nahachu were so brave that some of them were shot but not dead and continued to charge at the musketeers.

Seeing this, the musketeers immediately raised their guns and charged towards the Yuan army. The flintlock rifle, which was almost two meters long with its bayonet, was almost a short spear. As long as the enemy was not a large spear formation, they were not afraid of cold weapons. They immediately rushed forward and turned the few Yuan soldiers who were lucky enough to survive into a hornet's nest.

After they dealt with the Yuan army, they looked up again and found that Nahachu was no longer there. The captain of the team waved his hand and shouted, "Chase him! Don't let Nahachu escape! Catch him and reward him with a title!"

"kill!"

"General, this way."

"Oh no, there are bandits here too. I'll stop them. General, hurry up."

Nahachu hid all the way, being escorted by his personal soldiers as he retreated towards the east gate. He encountered the Shengwu Army repeatedly along the way, and lost wave after wave of his personal soldiers. He felt so painful that his heart bled, but there was nothing he could do now. If he didn't run, he would be waiting to die. He could only follow his personal soldiers dejectedly and flee towards the east gate.

There were 10,000 troops stationed in Dangtu City, which was actually not a small number for defending the city. I just didn't expect the Shengwu Army to be so brave. I didn't know what was happening on Caishiji. Although I saw the smoke before and knew that Caishiji had also been breached, I didn't know how many of the 20,000 troops there escaped. After this battle, how many of his 30,000 troops were left.

Near the east gate of Dangtu City, Zhu Yuanzhang and others hid in a courtyard on the side of the barricade, listening to wave after wave of defeated soldiers fleeing from here. Suddenly, a burst of sound of defeated soldiers was heard on the street again.

"General, please retreat. There are no bandits at the east gate. Let's escape and gather the army. We will definitely be able to retake the city."

Zhu Yuanzhang and others' eyes lit up when they heard this. Cui Jian took out the grenades and fuses, waiting for the order to throw them out. Everyone looked up at Li Wu on the roof, but Li Wu shook his head again and made a gesture of stroking his beard with his hand.

Everyone immediately realized that the person was wrong. The Nahachu that the prisoner had just mentioned did not have a long beard, so everyone continued to wait.

When the "general" outside the door passed by the street, Cui Jian looked out and found the word "Chen" written on the flag. He immediately came to the prisoner, pulled out the rag from his mouth and whispered, "There is a general named Chen with a long beard. Who is he?"

"It should be Chen Yesian. He is the Marshal of the Jiankang Volunteer Army, and his official rank is not lower than that of the Taiping Army."

"Oh, what a pity."

"."

Cui Jian sighed, stuffed the rag back in, and came behind Zhu Yuanzhang and whispered, "We let a high-ranking official escape. He is the Marshal of the Jiqing Road Volunteer Army of the Yuan Army, and his position is not lower than Nahachu."

Zhu Yuanzhang was about to say something when suddenly a voice came from outside. He quickly waved his hand and asked everyone to get ready.

"Damn you Lu thief, I will not be a human being until I take back this city. How dare you capture me alive and humiliate me!"

Everyone's eyes suddenly lit up when they heard that. Cui Jian and others also looked at Li Wu on the roof, and found that Li Wu had already stood up on the roof and drawn his bow and arrow.

That’s right! This is Nahachu!
呲——

Cui Jian immediately lit the grenade in his hand.

"General, hurry up and leave. As long as you have the green mountains, you will never be short of firewood. When we gather the army back, we will catch that thief and humiliate him."

At this moment, Nahachu and others were walking eastward when a smoking hammer suddenly flew out from a gap in a broken courtyard wall nearby. Before they could react, there was a loud bang, which blew the group of people to the ground on the spot.

There were two sounds of bowstrings vibrating, and two archers suddenly stood up on the roof next to them, shooting arrows at them continuously. Li Wu was the first to shoot at the neck of the horse that Nahachu was sitting on. The horse raised its front hooves in pain and threw Nahachu off.

Then Li Wu and Qian Hui continued to shoot arrows at the personal soldiers around Nahachu.

"Oh no! There's an ambush! General, hurry up!"

At this moment, Guan Chen also warmed up a grenade and threw it out. There was another loud bang, and several people were blown up again.

Zhu Yuanzhang could no longer bear it, and immediately led everyone out of the gap in the courtyard wall and killed Nahachu and others.

"You will be awarded a title for your meritorious service! Kill him!"

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately stabbed one of Nahachu's personal soldiers to death with his spear. Nahachu's mount was shot dead by Li Wu. Nahachu had just changed to his personal soldier's horse and was about to break out of the encirclement. At this time, Guan Chen suddenly came up with a knife-clamping stick, and smashed the horse's head with the stick. He beat the horse to death with just one stick.

Later, Zhang Ye, Chen Shuxing, Gao Yong, Liu Xiu and others also rushed up with spears and clubs, killing Nahachu's personal soldiers. Zhu Yuanzhang also took the opportunity to pounce on Nahachu who had just fallen off his horse.

Zhou Tong, Zhao Gan and others, hearing the two explosions and the shouts of Zhu Yuanzhang and others, also rushed out from the back door, holding their sabers and charging at the back of the Yuan army. Li Wu and others kept firing from the roof and kept on guard for them.

"We caught him!"

"Nahachu, let's see where you can run!"

"Hurry up, another Yuan army is coming!"

(End of this chapter)