Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 290: Yuru Temur, Imperial Envoy of the Yuan Dynasty
The Yuelutemur that Chen Zhaoxian mentioned was the imperial envoy sent by Emperor Shundi of the Yuan Dynasty to suppress the Red Turban Army in the south of the Yangtze River. He was a genuine Mongolian descendant of the Qiexue Army. His great-grandfather Huo Mi Chi was an officer of the Qiexue Army of Genghis Khan Temujin. His great-grandfather Gui Yu also followed Ogedei to fight in the Western Regions and was promoted to a thousand-householder of the Qiexue Army.

Yulu Timur's grandfather served Tolui since he was a child. He inherited his father's position and served as an officer in the Qiexue Army under Tolui. Later, when Kublai Khan fought a great war with Ariq Böke, Hela fled from Khara Khorum to Kublai Khan and completely broke with Tolui's family, resulting in more than a hundred members of his family being killed by Ariq Böke's clan.

Kublai Khan, grateful for his loyalty, granted his family thousands of acres of land in Bianliang and thousands of acres of pastureland in Luzhou. From then on, he completely changed his status and became an officer of Kublai Khan's Qieshig Army.

Later, when Kublai Khan went south to destroy the Song Dynasty, he planned to appoint Hela as prime minister, or as the governor of Jianghuai Province, but Hela declined on the grounds that he was a military man, and eventually died in the fiefdom granted to him by Kublai Khan.

It can be said that starting from Yuelu's grandfather, his family has completely become Mongolians living in the Central Plains. Yuelu's biological father, Pulanxi, may have been to the grassland. His father, Pulanxi, also joined the Qiexue Army during the time of Kublai Khan. He served as a member of the Secretariat, a censor of the Censorate in Jiangnan, and an inspector of the Liaodong Circuit. He also welcomed Emperor Wuzong of Yuan, Haishan, to be the emperor.

Yuru Temur himself was even more extraordinary. During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Yuan Dynasty, Ayurbarwada, he was recommended by the imperial envoy of the time to serve in the Qiexue Army. Later, he was appointed as the imperial envoy by Renzong to supervise Dadu. After the death of Emperor Renzong of Yuan Dynasty, the powerful minister Bayan came to power. Yuru Temur had even opposed Bayan. Therefore, after Emperor Shundi of Yuan Dynasty took power, he was immediately reused.

Moreover, 20 years ago, in 1331, when Wang Guanfu rebelled against the Yuan Dynasty, it was Yuelu Temur who led the troops to suppress it. After that, he did many similar things. When the Yao people in Huguang rebelled, it was also Yuelu Temur who suppressed it.

When Xu Shouhui invaded Jiangnan this time, Emperor Shundi of Yuan Dynasty immediately thought of this "holy body with the innate ability to suppress uprisings" and wanted to send Yuelu to suppress Xu Shouhui.

After receiving the news, Yuelu immediately reported to Tuotuo, saying that it was too late for him to guard Jiangnan now, and it would be better to give him the right to act at his discretion, and perhaps he could repel Xu Shouhui.

Tuotuo reported Yuelu's words to Xiao Tieguo verbatim. Xiao Tieguo was overjoyed and appointed him as the Minister of the Secretariat of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, allowing him to act at his discretion and to oversee the suppression of the Red Turban Rebellion in the south. Only then did Yuelu accept the order and head south.

When Yue Lu went south in July, the Song army had just crossed the Yuling Pass and had not yet attacked Hangzhou. When the old man arrived in Hangzhou, he immediately promoted Su Tianjue, the salt transport envoy of Liangzhe, and Bao Qi, the general manager of Hangzhou Road, to the positions of councilors of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. He also asked local people in Hangzhou to provide manpower and money to build the city and recruit troops.

However, the Xu Song army attacked too quickly, and the city in front of Hangzhou collapsed at the first touch. So before they could react, the Xu Song Red Turban Army had already arrived at the gates of Hangzhou, and ultimately they failed to defend Hangzhou.

However, the salt army that Su Tianjue had recruited in Shaoxing and other places by Yuelu had made great contributions. First, they followed Su Tianjue to recapture the city of Hangzhou, and later followed Yuelu all the way to defeat Xu Song back to Jiangxi.

However, for old man Yuelu, who is so old, it is not easy to go through so much. He fought in more than 80 battles from Hangzhou to Huizhou. It was also the hot summer weather. He could not eat, and he had a lot of things to do. He worked day and night and is now seriously ill.

When Yue Lu led his troops to chase the Song army to Huizhou, he stopped leading his troops forward and asked Dong Tuanxiao to continue leading the troops to suppress the rebellion. Now he is recuperating in Huizhou.

However, he never expected that before one crisis was resolved, another crisis would arise. The Xu and Song rebels had not been completely wiped out, and the Red Turbans in Luzhou were also restless. When the Yuan army in Jiangnan was moving south, they took the opportunity to attack from the rear, crossed the river from Taiping Road and entered Jiangsu and Zhejiang, without giving him any chance to rest.

Chen Zhaoxian followed his father's will and did not dare to take the lead in counterattacking Lu Jin, so he stationed his troops in Lishui, while gathering a large army to scout the movements of Lu Jin's Shengwu Army, and reporting the Taiping Road battle to the senior officials of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

But the Third Pingzhang Dingding is still guarding Hangzhou, and the Fourth Pingzhang Jiaohua is following Dong Tuanxiao to hunt down Xu Song Hongjin. These two people cannot come over in a short time. He has no choice but to report to Yuelu who is stationed in Huizhou more than 300 miles away.

Yue Lu received the news and also heard that Lu Jin had 5,000 armored cavalry under his command. Chen Zhaoxian was worried that he could not win the battle, so he wanted Yue Lu to recall the 1,000 cavalry that he had borrowed from Taiping Road.

Yue Lu did not hesitate. As a Mongolian, he naturally knew the power of 5,000 armored cavalry. After receiving the news, he immediately led the cavalry back to provide support. Anyway, Xu Song had been driven back to Jiangxi. Jiangxi was either mountainous or water, and there was not much flat land. It was difficult for the cavalry to play a role. These cavalry were left in Huizhou and did not go south. They were just sitting there doing nothing, so they might as well be sent back to provide support to Dangtu.

The old man hurried all the way and arrived in Lishui in just five days. His face was already flushed with an abnormal redness of illness, and he coughed from time to time while speaking, as if he was having a last breath of life. He looked very distressing, and people could not help but suspect that he was going to die before he could catch his breath.

In fact, in the original history, the old man Yue Lu died of illness when he was pursuing Xu Song in Huizhou. The reason why he has survived until now in this time and space may be due to the indirect influence of Lu Jin.

Before Dong Tuanxiao went south to support the battlefield in the south of the Yangtze River, he was repelled by the Shengwu Army when he attacked Lai'an, and did not go all the way to Haozhou as in history. Therefore, in this time and space, when Xu Song attacked Hangzhou, Dong Tuanxiao's speed of going south to support was advanced. It may be because of Dong Tuanxiao's advance arrival that made the Yuan army's counterattack smoother, and the old man Yue Lu did not worry as much as in the original history, so he lived a few more days.

But Lu Jin suddenly did this behind his back. I wonder if this old man can survive this.
On September 16, the seventh day after the Shengwu Army crossed the river, Yuru Timur finally rushed back to Lishui from Huizhou. Chen Zhaoxian, in mourning for his father, went out of the city to greet him in mourning clothes. Yuru Timur, even though he knew that it was Chen Yesian and Nahachu who lost Dangtu, could not bear to blame him when he saw him dressed like that.

"Thank you for your hard work. However, the military situation is urgent and we cannot allow you to mourn your father all the time. The top priority should be military affairs."

Chen Zhaoxian said quickly, "It's all my incompetence. I've troubled you to make this trip. Please take care of yourself."

"Cough, cough, cough, haha, let's talk about the situation in Dangtu." Yulectemur coughed violently for a while, his face turned red, and finally waved his hand. While following him into the city, he urged him to report the situation in Dangtu.

So Chen Zhaoxian immediately recounted the events of the Double Ninth Festival, when Lu Jin led his troops across the river, attacked Caishi and Dangtu at the same time, and won the battle. He also said that Lu Jin captured Nahachu and his father alive, and Nahachu has been detained in Lu Jin's prison ever since. His father refused to surrender and was brutally humiliated by Lu Jin. His hair and beard were shaved off, and his ears, nose and genitals were cut off. The prisoner also asked several captives to send his father back. After his father came back, he could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide.

Yulu Timur was silent for a long while, then he said, "Your father and son are loyal. Although we lost the battle to the bandit Nalu and lost Dangtu and Caishi, it is not your father's fault after all, but Nahachu's incompetence. Since your father died loyal to the country, his position should be taken by you. I will report to His Majesty and promote you to the Marshal of the Jiqing Road Volunteer Army. You must regroup and cheer up to avenge your father!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhaoxian immediately cried out in gratitude, "Thank you very much for your support, Lord Pingzhang. I will cut that thief into pieces with my own hands, otherwise I will never be able to relieve the hatred in my heart!"

"Cough, cough, cough." Yulu Timur coughed again, and then continued to ask, "I just entered the city and saw endless military camps inside and outside the city. How many soldiers do you have now, and how many soldiers does the Lu thief have?"

Chen Zhaoxian immediately said, "My Lord Pingzhang, I currently have 80,000 infantrymen, including nearly 20,000 armored soldiers, half of whom are in iron armor and half in leather armor. There are also cavalrymen from various places in Jiqing Road, totaling 2,000. If you count the 1,000 cavalrymen that Your Excellency brought back from Huizhou, our army will have 3,000 cavalrymen." But the Lu bandits still have more cavalrymen. According to the scouts' investigations in recent days, the cavalrymen that crossed the river with the Lu bandits should be the size of a cavalry regiment. Together with some cavalrymen from other units, the total number should be more than 5,000.

"In addition, the Lu bandits have nearly 30,000 infantrymen. Although the number of soldiers is not large, these 30,000 soldiers are all armored soldiers. The Lu bandits opened a mine and smelted iron in Luzhou last year. I heard that they have accumulated a lot of armor, which are the armor that the bandits wore when they crossed the river this time.

"Among these 30,000 infantrymen, I heard that those wearing red armor are spearmen, accounting for about half, and those wearing yellow armor are the imperial guards of Lu Jin, and it seems that they all use muskets. Their muskets are very strange. I heard that they can be fired without ignition, and their power can penetrate iron armor. When the bandits attacked Dangtu, many of our soldiers suffered from the muskets, and those who tried to stop them were killed instantly.

"They also have several tower ships equipped with large fire guns, which were originally captured from Kang Maocai's river defense division. Now they have been modified by the Lu bandits. I heard that the large fire guns on the tower ships can fire two miles away. The bullets fired are filled with gunpowder and will explode. The bandit army relied on those tower ships to continuously bombard the top of the city, making it impossible for our defenders to climb the city to defend, allowing the bandit army's soldiers to easily climb the top of the city."

Yuelutemur frowned after hearing this, knowing that Lu Jin had more than 30,000 soldiers, including 5,000 armored cavalry, he dared not underestimate them.

He originally thought that Lu Jin's strength should be inferior to Xu Shouhui, otherwise why there was no movement for half a year after occupying Luzhou? Now it seems that he underestimated Lu Jin. It turns out that this guy has been quietly accumulating weapons and armor, not to mention the strange firearms that can shoot two miles away and are extremely powerful.

Then he asked about the Battle of Crossing the Yangtze River. The previous letter did not explain clearly how Nahachu lost Dangtu City. Chen Zhaoxian introduced it to Yulectemür based on the information he knew and what the released prisoners said, combined with various intelligence.

The tower ships and muskets were used to bombard the city walls and suppress the defenders. The Dangtu city walls were next to the water, and the moat was very wide, connecting to the Yangtze River, so the tower ships could sail in. The enemy army simply docked the tower ships on the top of the city and boarded them to enter the city.

According to the released captives, the first people to climb the city wall were a group of soldiers wearing heavy black armor. These black-armored bandits fought desperately. After climbing the city wall, they quickly captured the west gate and the south gate and allowed their troops to enter the city.

Those yellow-armored musketeers were also very powerful. Each musket was about four and a half feet long, with a one and a half foot long rapier inserted in the front. The whole musket was six feet long in total. It could be used for long-range shooting, with the bullet being able to penetrate armor, and could also be used as a pistol for stabbing and close combat.

In addition, when the bandits attacked the city, they used a large number of small firearms, which looked like an iron shell bomb, similar to the Wan Ren Di of the former Song Dynasty. After being ignited, it was thrown into the enemy group, making a sound like thunder, and could kill or injure several people. The bandits had a lot of these things, almost everyone had one. When they encountered a strong formation that was difficult to break through quickly, they would throw bombs to break the formation first.

Yue Lu took it more seriously after hearing this. It seemed that Lu Jin was extremely well prepared and had actually made so many strange and bizarre firearms.

"So how is his military force deployed now? Has he planned to capture other cities after crossing the river?"

Chen Zhaoxian shook his head. "No, after my father passed away, I have been in Lishui to mourn him. At the same time, I summoned the troops from Jiqing Road to gather in Lishui to confront the bandit in Dangtu. I also sent scouts to investigate the current arrangements in Dangtu. According to the scouts' investigation, the bandit has not gone anywhere. He has set up several camps outside the city with his back to the city, and all his bandit soldiers are also around the city."

Yuelu Timur frowned upon hearing this and asked in confusion, "So he did nothing for so many days after crossing the river?"

Chen Zhaoxian immediately replied, "He seems to be recruiting prisoners as soldiers to expand his army. In this battle, 30,000 soldiers under the command of Nahachu, the Wanhu of Taiping Road, were annihilated. The Lu thief should have more than 20,000 prisoners and surrendered soldiers.

"According to the information gathered by the scouts in Dangtu countryside, many Dangtu residents have been relocated by the Lu bandits recently. It is said that the Lu bandits want to distribute land to the captured surrendered soldiers. Those who are willing to join the army will be given 50 mu of land per household. In addition, Luzhou can produce its own weapons and armor. I am afraid that it will not be long before he can have more than 20,000 more soldiers."

Yuelutemur took a deep breath when he heard this. If he distributed land to the soldiers and could produce their own weapons and armor, then these surrendered soldiers would be determined to follow him to fight against the Yuan court. No, he couldn't let Lu Jin continue to expand like this!
Then he frowned and asked, "That thief Lu humiliated your father so much this time, he must have wanted to lure you over so that he could set up an ambush and attack you. Didn't you find his ambush?"

Chen Zhaoxian also frowned and said, "My father also told me this before he died, asking me to be careful of his ambush. However, I sent scouts to investigate many times, but none of them found the ambush set by this thief. I was also surprised, so I did not dare to act rashly."

Yuelu Timur thought about it, maybe because Lu Jin's troops were not enough, it was difficult to use all their strength to attack the city, so they wanted to lure Chen Zhaoxian to come for a decisive battle? He thought about it for a long time, and he was not sure of Lu Jin's true intention. It was also possible that Lu Jin's ambush was somewhere else, but they just didn't find it for the time being. However, at the moment, how to fight was also a problem. He couldn't just not take action because he couldn't find Lu Jin's ambush.

Seeing that Yuletemur had been silent and seemed to be asleep, Chen Zhaoxian asked.

"Lord Pingzhang, how should our army attack Dangtu?"

Yuelu then opened his eyes and asked, "How many soldiers do you have?"

"There are 80,000 infantrymen in Lishui now. Some soldiers need to be left in the cities of Jiqing Road to defend the cities. Some are in Jiankang. Previously, Dong Tuanxiao, the governor of Jining Road, took away 50,000 soldiers to support Hangzhou. Now we can only take out 20,000 at most, which can make up a total of 100,000 troops. The rest of the troops cannot be moved, otherwise Jiqing Road will be empty and defenseless."

Upon hearing this, Yue Lu immediately decided, "Then call the 20,000 troops to come, gather a total of 100,000 to attack Dangtu, and then ask the craftsmen to make some small fennel cannons and giant shields to block the enemy's muskets. Once everyone is here, we will send troops to Dangtu!"

Chen Zhaoxian was puzzled when he heard this, "A hundred thousand troops will attack Dangtu together? Why not divide the troops to attack Caishiji?"

Yulu Timur shook his head, "We don't have a navy for now, and the enemy's navy is huge. Niuzhu and Caishi have narrow terrains. Even if we have an army of 100,000, it is difficult to deploy all of them to the battlefield, and we can't play the advantage of military strength.

"Even if we force our way in, the enemy soldiers can retreat by boat. Although we can recapture Cai Shi, we won't be able to destroy many enemy troops. Moreover, if we force them to land, they may use their navy to raid other places, such as landing in Jiankang. If that's the case, we might as well let them occupy Cai Shi first."

Chen Zhaoxian was stunned when he heard this, it seemed to be true. Now he had almost withdrawn all the troops from Jiqing Road, and the 100,000 troops were gathered in Lishui. Jiankang was very empty. If at this time, Lu Jin landed in another place and opened up a second battlefield, it would definitely make them more uncomfortable.

(End of this chapter)