Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 284: Two-Hour Speed ​​​​Pass through Dangtu City
In a flash, Nahachu encountered two explosions in succession and fell off his horse twice. He was now dazed and Zhu Yuanzhang pounced on him and held him down. He was completely dazed and did not expect that someone was ambushing him near the East Gate.

However, he reacted quickly and began to struggle subconsciously. He soon found that his left hand was held down by Zhu Yuanzhang, but his right hand was free.

Nahachu was in his prime and very strong. Taking advantage of Zhu Yuanzhang's unpreparedness, he pulled out a small knife from his waist and slashed at Zhu Yuanzhang's head.

Zhu Chongba was holding his left hand and looking for something to tie him up. He didn't pay attention to Nahachu's other hand. Suddenly, he saw a flash of white light in front of him and a sharp blade slashed across his face.

Fortunately, on their standard armor, the helmet, collar and throat guard were integrated, so only the upper half of the face was exposed when fully armed, which provided very good protection. However, Nahachu still scratched his face and nose, and almost cut his eyes, which startled Zhu Yuanzhang and caused blood to flow down his face instantly.

Seeing that his first strike failed to kill him, Nahachu immediately turned around and stabbed Zhu Yuanzhang in the face with his knife. However, Zhu Yuanzhang reacted quickly and caught the knife with his hand. He caught the knife with his bare hands, and blood immediately flowed from his left hand.

Zhu Yuanzhang gritted his teeth, endured the severe pain in his hand, and used his right hand to pry open the fingers of Nahachu's left hand that was pressed down, almost breaking his fingers in the opposite direction. Ten fingers are connected to the heart, and Nahachu was immediately distracted by the pain. Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of the situation to press Nahachu's right hand holding the knife to the side, leaving Nahachu's entire chest empty, and then slammed his forehead into Nahachu's face.

bang bang bang-

After three consecutive headbutts, Naha's mouth and nose started bleeding, and he passed out in a daze.

Nahachu's personal soldiers in the front were anxious when they saw their commander being captured. Even though they knew there was a saber coming at them from behind, they did not care about much else at this moment. They did not dodge the saber behind them, but instead stabbed Zhu Yuanzhang with their guns.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang's face was covered in blood and his head was dazed from the impact. In addition, the brim of his helmet blocked his view, so he didn't see the shot at all. Fortunately, there were teammates in front of him blocking the way.

Seeing this, Liu Xiu, who had just killed a man with his spear, immediately shouted, "Chongba, be careful!"

After saying this, although he had just killed a Yuan soldier with a spear and was unable to retract his spear in time, he still hit the side of the spear that the Yuan soldier was stabbing at, knocking the spear off course.

Just at this moment, Zhou Tong swung his saber down and instantly killed the Yuan soldier with one blow.

Cui Jian had just killed a Yuan soldier at this time, and when he saw this, he turned around and asked, "Brother Chongba, are you okay?"

Zhu Chongba raised his head and shook it, sobering up a little, "I, I'm fine."

Another team member, Chen Shuxing, also shouted, "Brother Chongba, quickly drag that guy to the yard."

"Okay." Zhu Yuanzhang agreed, staggered to his feet, and dragged Nahachu by his armor towards the gap in the courtyard wall.

At this moment, Tao An and his two sons in the main room heard explosions and shouts coming from outside, and the youngest son Tao Sheng immediately wanted to go out and take a look.

The eldest son Tao Yu immediately shouted, "Brother Sheng, don't go."

"Come back." Tao An also shouted from behind.

But the boy was very curious and rushed out of the main room. The father and son behind him also followed him out and tried to pull him back.

whoosh-

As a result, as soon as the three of them walked out of the door, Qian Hui, who was standing on the roof opposite, shot an arrow towards the open space in front of them and warned them with a cold face, "Go back!"

Just at this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang dragged the unconscious Nahachu into the yard with blood all over his face. The father and his two sons were shocked when they saw this.

"Were they really caught?!"

"Go back!" Qian Hui shouted again on the roof. Upon hearing this, Tao An pulled his two sons back to the main room.

Bang bang bang bang bang————

"Run! The demon soldiers are coming!"

Zhou Tong and the others were stunned when they heard the sound, and they immediately rushed to kill the remaining Yuan army. Li Wu on the roof also shouted anxiously, "Hurry up, the Yuan army is coming, we can't stop them!"

Li Wu was shouting, and sure enough, the next moment a large number of defeated Yuan army soldiers fled towards this side. They were already scared crazy by the Shengwu Army behind them, and they only wanted to escape. No matter who stood in front of them, they would be killed mercilessly, even the officers of the Yuan army. If it were only people like Zhou Tong, they might not be able to stop them at all.

Guan Chen knocked down the last standing Yuan soldier with his knife-clamping stick. Zhou Tong looked at the fleeing Yuan soldiers who were getting closer and closer, and then looked at the bodies he had just chopped down. He saw that among them was a real Mongolian Tartar with braids on both sides of his head. He suddenly had an idea and chopped off the man's head with a knife. He said to the people in front of him, "Who has grenades? Throw them all out. We must stop these fleeing soldiers!"

Everyone searched quickly and found four grenades. Without saying a word, they lit them and threw them in the direction of the fleeing Yuan army.

With a series of explosions, the fleeing soldiers were finally forced to stop. While the fleeing soldiers were stunned, Zhou Tong immediately jumped onto the overturned carriage in the middle of the road with his pigtailed head in his hand and shouted to the fleeing Yuan soldiers, "Here is Nahachu's head. Surrender and you won't be killed!"

Cui Jian and the others were stunned when they heard this. They looked at Zhou Tong standing on the carriage, then glanced at the head in his hand. They immediately reacted and hurried forward to confront the fleeing Yuan army soldiers, shouting at the same time, "Nahach is dead, surrender and you won't be killed!"

"Surrender without killing!"

"Surrender without killing!"

The one or two thousand Yuan army fleeing soldiers in front saw the head with braided hair, but they could not distinguish it clearly from such a distance. In addition, Zhou Tong and others were full of momentum, so they were shocked and stood still.

Just at this time, the allied forces of the Shengwu Army behind them also caught up with them. The defeated Yuan army soldiers saw that there were wolves in front of them and tigers behind them, and their main general was dead. Finally, their psychological defenses were broken, and they chose to surrender under the pincer attack of the Shengwu Army.

Oh, oh, oh——

On the other side of Niuzhuji, Lu Jin also led his war horse to the dock of the east bank port and finally set foot on the land on the east bank of the Yangtze River. He asked his personal soldiers on the same ship to raise his central army flag. When the officials and generals of the marshal's office who came ashore saw the flag, they all gathered towards him.

"Commander!"

Seeing Zhang Desheng coming over on horseback, Lu Jin immediately arranged, "Take your 17th Regiment immediately to help clear out the remaining enemies in the harbor, and then assemble behind Caishiji."

"Yes!" Zhang Desheng immediately took the order and left.

After about a quarter of an hour, Zhang Wen's Second Brigade of the Imperial Guard had almost landed, and the remaining enemies in Caishiji had almost been controlled. Lu Jin made further arrangements for them.

"Zhang Wen, you take the Second Brigade to the rear of Caishiji to form a team. Zhang Desheng's 17th Regiment will be the vanguard, the Second Brigade of the Imperial Guards will be in the middle, and Yu Tonghai's Ninth Regiment will be the rearguard. Once the team is formed, advance toward Dangtu."

Zhang Wen asked quickly, "What about the Marshal? Isn't he going with us?"

Lu Jin shook his head. "Don't wait for me. I'll take the cavalry to chase you. The infantry moves slowly, so you go first."

"Yes!" Zhang Wen immediately clasped his fists and left.

After a while, seeing that the fighting in the port was gradually subsiding, Li Shanchang, Feng Guoyong, Shi Nai'an and others also came over. Chang Yuchun, summoned by Lu Jin's personal soldiers, also ran to meet Lu Jin.

But the arrows stuck in his body could not be pulled out for a while, so he ran over with a body full of arrows, which immediately scared everyone. Even Lu Jin was shocked by his appearance. This scene was so exaggerated that it was unimaginable when seen in TV dramas. No one expected that someone would really be shot like this.

"Are you okay? How can you run around with so many arrows on you?"

"It's okay, they are all minor injuries. I was wearing two layers of iron armor. The arrows didn't penetrate deeply, but were stuck in the armor plates and difficult to pull out." Chang Yuchun waved his hands and pulled out an arrow from his body.

Seeing this, Lu Jin complained, "Why are you so reckless? You are the commander of a regiment. I gave you so many grenades just for you to use. Why did you get shot like this?

"Come here, help Commander Chang take off his armor, and quickly call a doctor to check Commander Chang's injuries."

"Yes." Immediately, several personal soldiers came over to help Chang Yuchun take off his armor, carefully to avoid being hurt by the arrows. Lu Jin also took off his cloak and outer sleeves and put them on him to prevent him from being caught in a sudden wind after sweating. In ancient times, this thing was called "armor-removing wind". It is rumored that in history, Chang Yuchun died suddenly due to a recurrence of his old injuries, coupled with armor-removing wind.

"Thank you for your concern, Marshal. My injury is not that serious and I can still fight." Chang Yuchun put on Lu Jin's clothes and was about to stand up again.

"You stay here quietly for now and let the doctor bandage your wounds. Where's Shi Heng?"

Shi Heng, the training officer of the 13th Regiment, was talking to several grassroots trainers. When he heard Lu Jin's call, he hurried over.

"Commander!"

"What's the situation with the Thirteenth Regiment? How many prisoners have they captured?" Lu Jin asked immediately.

Shi Heng quickly reported, "Reporting to the commander, the statistics have not been completed yet, only the approximate figures, my regiment has nearly 100 people killed, more than 300 injured, a total of more than 400 casualties, the loss of half a battalion.
"About 13 enemy soldiers were killed by the navy's artillery, and nearly were killed by our th Regiment. There were also more than wounded. A total of about enemy soldiers were captured, including more than wounded soldiers. More than were intact and are now all under our custody!"

"Good, good fight. We fought well. Four hundred casualties exchanged for over three thousand enemy casualties. The loss ratio was 1:8 to 1:9. This battle was fought very well. Your Thirteenth Regiment has made a great contribution." Lu Jin praised and quickly made arrangements.

"Chang Yuchun, Shi Heng."

"arrive."

"The general is here!"

"You two will lead the 13th Regiment to guard Caishi and Niuzhu. You will not participate in the next operation for the time being. You must guard the prisoners, treat the wounded as soon as possible, report the names of the fallen soldiers, and submit the meritorious service reports of the meritorious soldiers. Implement the reward and pension work for the soldiers as soon as possible."

"Yes."

Shi Heng agreed immediately, but Chang Yuchun became anxious when he heard this and quickly stood up and said.

"Marshal, our Thirteenth Regiment can still fight. I have drawn soldiers from the auxiliary battalion to replace the half battalion that was damaged in the battle. We can immediately restore the formation of four combat battalions. The auxiliary battalion of our Thirteenth Regiment can also fight. I have watched them train. You can take us with you."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Lu Jin quickly raised his hand to interrupt.

"Stop it. I know you can fight, but you also have to consider the physical strength of your soldiers. The soldiers just fought a battle, and they didn't even have a rest. You let them march to Dangtu? You are the commander, so you naturally have horses to ride. What about them?"

Chang Yuchun wanted to say something else, but Lu Jin interrupted him again.

"Listen to me, Caishiji is an important crossing point for crossing the river, and it is the lifeline of our army. It is precisely because you are good at fighting that I want you to hold this place firmly. Only if you hold it here, I dare to let go and do whatever I want in Jiangnan. No matter how the battle goes, at least there is a way to retreat. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Chang Yuchun agreed reluctantly.

Seeing this, Lu Jin joked, "You were the first to defeat the enemy this time, which is already a great achievement. There are so many commanders behind you who are jealous. You have already fought the battle, so how can they get any merit? You keep saying that you want to lead 100,000 soldiers, but you don't even understand the ways of the world. Can you lead 100,000 soldiers?"

"I understand." Chang Yuchun immediately nodded seriously and agreed.

Lu Jin shouted again at this time.

"Chang Yuchun."

"The general is here!"

"You led the 109th Regiment to reach Caishiji and defeated the enemy with merit. You are now promoted to the commander of the newly formed 13th Division, with the rank of major general. You will be in charge of the 22th Regiment, the newly formed 23nd Regiment, and the newly formed rd Regiment.

"The former battalion officer of the 13th Regiment, Ping Ding, was promoted to the commander of the 13th Regiment for his meritorious service in combat; the former battalion officer of the 13th Regiment, Wang Zhiyuan, was promoted to the commander of the newly formed 22nd Regiment for his meritorious service in burning down the enemy's trebuchet positions; the former battalion officer of the 13th Regiment, Zhou Xing, was promoted to the commander of the newly formed 23rd Regiment for his meritorious service in combat.

"Instruct your troops to guard Caishiji, and draw key members from the original 13th Regiment. Use the prisoners captured this time as supplements, and expand the troops as soon as possible to train and prepare for war!"

"Yes! Hehehehe." Chang Yuchun immediately clasped his fists and accepted the order, then started laughing.

"How is it? Three regiments, 13500 soldiers. I said that those who have made contributions will be rewarded. Are you satisfied now? Work hard. I'm looking forward to the day when you lead soldiers!" Lu Jin hit his chest with his fist and said with a smile.

"Yes, I will definitely live up to your expectations."

"Shiheng."

"The minister is here."

Lu Jin ordered again, "You will be promoted to the training officer of the 109th Division. Follow the spirit of the previous meeting as soon as possible to complete the transformation of these prisoners.

"Listen, both of you. Since you captured these prisoners, I will let you select the reinforcements first. Draw people from the auxiliary barracks to fill up the combat troops first, and then recruit new people to fill the auxiliary barracks.

"Try to maintain the combat effectiveness of the 13th Regiment, and then select some backbone members to expand the new regiment. Keep the rest of the people for me, and do not kill the prisoners!"

"Yes!" The two of them quickly agreed.

After arranging the garrison work in Caishiji, Lu Jin mounted his horse and led a group of officials from the Marshal's Mansion, his personal soldiers, and the cavalry who came ashore later, and rushed towards the large army that had already set out.

Not long after catching up with Zhang Wen, Zhang Wen came to Lu Jin on horseback and said something.

"General, the scouts of the cavalry regiment just came to report victory, saying that Dangtu City has been captured and the remaining enemies in the city have been cleared out."

Lu Jin looked at his watch. It was only eleven o'clock in the morning. He immediately said, "Okay, you take the troops and hurry on. When you get to Dangtu, don't go into the city. Prepare to set up camp in the north of the city. I will go to Dangtu City with the cavalry to control the situation."

"Yes!" Zhang Wen also quickly agreed.

Lu Jin led everyone to continue their journey towards Dangtu. When they were halfway there, Ye Sheng also arrived to meet them. He also captured Chen Yetian who was let go by Zhu Chongba and others.

This guy would never have thought that Lu Jin, who had crossed the river, could actually deploy cavalry behind Dangtu. So as soon as Chen Yesian escaped from the city from the east, he was captured by Ye Sheng's cavalry as expected.

Lu Jin asked him to take Chen Ye with him first and continued to march towards Dangtu. Along the way, white-armored cavalry from the Shengwu Army kept coming to join them.

Caishiji was only thirty miles away from Dangtu City. After hurrying, everyone finally arrived at Dangtu before noon.

The Yuan army in Dangtu had been completely wiped out, and all the prisoners were detained in several streets. Soldiers of the Shengwu Army also stood on the city walls. Someone saw Lu Jin's central army flag and white-armored cavalry coming and immediately reported to the city. Yang Jing and Zhu Shou immediately brought a group of generals to the north gate to greet them.

From the north gate to the government office in the city, there were musketeers of the Imperial Guard standing guard with guns on the streets along the way. Some people had already bravely come out of their homes. Some of them really had chores to deal with, and some were speculators who organized the city's elders and villagers to come and entertain the troops, such as Tao An's family.

Lu Jin was wearing a fish-scale armor, without wearing a cloak or robe (actually it was left for Chang Yuchun), riding on the Yaoguang divine horse, and walked into Dangtu City under the gaze of soldiers and civilians along the way.

Whenever he passed by, the soldiers on both sides of the road would do the musket salute, holding the musket upright in the right hand, with the left hand palm-up in front of the bayonet, implying that he would not harm his own people or his commander, and then shout, "Greetings, Marshal!"

Lu Jin also drew his sword and shouted to the soldiers, "Shengwu Army, victory!"

"Wan Sheng!"

"Wan Sheng!"

The uniform shouts spread from Lu Jin's position to the entire city, shaking the captives and the people in the city. They were terrified of the powerful army that had captured Dangtu in just one hour!
(End of this chapter)