Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 294: Battle of Xiaomaoshan (Part )
When the generals heard Lu Jin's tactical arrangements, they all trembled with excitement, because this was indeed the best way to defeat the larger force with a smaller force, and it also sounded like the method most likely to succeed.

Don't use the two wings, the center and the rear army. Concentrate all your forces to break through the enemy's front. Rely on the range and power of artillery to confront the enemy's main formation and give full play to the advantages of technical weapons!

If you think about it carefully, if you fight like this, the main force against the enemy's front line is actually artillery and muskets. Before contacting the enemy, the front army has almost been defeated with the advantage of long-range shooting, and then from the breakthrough point, the enemy's two wings will be attacked. At this time, the force used for the attack will be nine battalions in each direction, with nearly 10,000 people.

The assault group used to attack the enemy's central army formation also had a considerable number of troops. It consisted of one regiment with five battalions, two trap camps, a cavalry battalion, and two artillery companies with 32 light howitzers. Eight battalions plus 32 artillery pieces were all the most elite melee troops, which was equivalent to the strength of a brigade. They were facing the unarmored infantry of the Yuan army.

Even if the Yuan army's central army still has a military advantage, it is impossible for them to be defeated, unless the central assault group is all slacking off.
Zhang Desheng became even more excited after hearing this. He originally thought that he was going to lead a regiment to launch a desperate attack on the enemy's central army formation, but he didn't expect that Lu Jin also reinforced him with two heavy armor trap camps, a guard cavalry battalion, and even 32 light howitzers. Isn't this a sure win? !
Moreover, friendly forces escorted them to the enemy's center throughout the journey, which was a free credit!

Yang Jing listened to Lu Jin's deployment, went over it in his mind, and found that this way of fighting seemed to be the best option, but he still asked.

"Marshal, what about the chariot camp? They were at the front at the beginning, but stayed at the back after they met the enemy?"

Lu Jin immediately explained, "The chariot camp is a mobile and solid camp. It can be maneuvered on the battlefield, but it is not as flexible as cavalry. When the chariot camp was first built, it was built to be a mobile camp on the battlefield.

"So the role of the chariot battalion is to protect the artillery battalion. Artillery is the core output unit of our entire army. It is the key for us to defeat the strong with the weak. We must retain some troops to protect the artillery.

"Another point is that the deployment just now was made based on the situation that the war goes smoothly. If the war goes smoothly, the chariot camp will naturally stay in place to protect the artillery camp. But what if the war is not as smooth as we thought? Then we can also use the chariot camp and the artillery camp to form a solid camp, and the army can retreat to the protection of the chariot camp to regroup. This is another function of the chariot camp.

"At the critical moment, the musketeers of the four chariot battalions and the two artillery battalions had to block the enemy's counterattack, buy time for the army to reorganize, and even cover the retreat of the entire army.

"The chariot camp is our backup. With the chariot camp, at least we can ensure that we will not be wiped out and lose everything if we fail once."

Everyone who was very excited just now calmed down instantly after hearing this, and all nodded in agreement. It seemed that their commander was still very sober at this time. This deployment could not only give full play to the firepower advantage of the Shengwu Army, but also prepare for the worst case scenario in case the war failed.

After hearing this, Bian Yuanheng also asked for a fight, "My lord, I just joined the army and was appointed as the commander-in-chief without any achievements. Although Brother Huafu recommended me and I was humble, some people will not accept it. My lord, please allocate a troop to me. I am willing to be the vanguard in this battle and take the enemy's head for you!"

As soon as Bian Yuanheng said this, everyone couldn't help but look at him, and Zhang Desheng even frowned. The troops of the Central Assault Group had already been determined, and Lu Jin had also appointed him as the chief commander of the assault group. How could this person come to steal the credit at this time?
Lu Jin thought for a moment and said, "You go lead the cavalry battalion of the Second Brigade of the Imperial Guards. Po Jun is still a little young, only fourteen, and can't fight a battle like this. You will be the main general in this battle, and let him be your deputy general. I will only give you more than 800 cavalrymen. When the enemy's front line is broken, you can lead the cavalry to charge the central army."

Bian Yuanheng immediately knelt down and accepted the order, "Thank you, my lord. I will obey your order!"

"You must bring me Chen Zhaoxian's head. Remember to follow Zhang Desheng's command. Remember that he is the commander of the central assault group in this battle, and you are only a temporary cavalry battalion officer, not a commander-in-chief. You can only charge after the central army's artillery fire has finished. You can discuss the specific arrangements."

"Yes!" Zhang Desheng was satisfied after hearing this and followed suit. Bian Yuanheng also got the opportunity to display his skills as he wished.

Yang Jing then asked, "Marshal, what should we do after this battle?"

"If we win this battle, we will seize Lishui, capture prisoners, expand the army, and then attack Jiankang in two directions and sweep across Jiangnan. If we lose this battle, we will retreat to Dangtu. We still have five regiments of new soldiers and can reorganize the army to fight again!"

Lu Jin glanced at the generals present and said solemnly, "A thousand years ago, Emperor Gaozu of Han fought against Xiang Yu and was defeated nine times out of ten. However, he persevered and fought again and again, and finally conquered the world.

“Victory and defeat are common in the military. One failure is nothing. A true warrior must have the courage to face failure without getting discouraged. He must become more courageous with each setback.

"In this battle, we are outnumbered and at a disadvantage in every way. It is normal that we cannot win. Winning would be a miracle! But as long as we can defeat the 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers of the Yuan army, we will not be considered a loser even if we are driven back to Dangtu.

"We have an arsenal in Luzhou behind us, which can produce more than 7,000 sets of armor every month. We also have five regiments of new soldiers. As long as we are given a chance to catch our breath, we can arm tens of thousands more soldiers. The balance of power between the enemy and us will slowly tilt towards us, and victory will eventually belong to us!"

"Fight well. From the day we raised the banner of rebellion by Chaohu Lake, we had no way to retreat. We will either die without a burial place, or we will kill him and turn the world upside down. We will overthrow the tyrannical Yuan Dynasty and dominate this world. It's either you or me. This is war. Show your manly spirit. My Shengwu Army has never been afraid of any enemy!"

"Yes, there is no retreat, there is death, there is no life!"

"Drive out the Tartars and restore China!"

After listening to Lu Jin's words, the generals present finally plucked up their courage and prepared themselves mentally to face victory or defeat.

Next, Lu Jin led them to do another detailed simulation, deducing possible situations on the battlefield, as well as the specific rhythm of attack and ways of changing formations, making preparations for dealing with various situations and trying to be foolproof.

On the other side, a cavalry regiment led by Ye Sheng was also engaged in a scout battle with the Yuan cavalry on the east side of Xiaomao Mountain. The scouts of both sides shuttled back and forth, spying on the other side's military intelligence, trying to capture the other side alive, and torturing the other side for military intelligence.

It’s a pity that the cavalry on the Yuan army’s side were gathered together temporarily and had never trained together. The cavalry on the Shengwu Army’s side has always been an independent and complete unit, with a much higher degree of training and organization than the Yuan army.

Even in a cavalry patrol battle, at least a platoon of 50 cavalry would be dispatched. The fifty cavalry were divided into four cavalry squads, which could cover and support each other in battle. They were far superior to the Yuan Dynasty cavalry. Even if the Shengwu Army cavalry suffered casualties, they had comrades to cover them and rescue the wounded calmly.

The two sides fought for a whole morning, but the Yuan army did not capture a single person alive and lost two or three hundred people. However, Ye Sheng's side reaped a lot of rewards, seizing more than two hundred war horses and capturing hundreds of Yuan army prisoners.

After interrogation, these captives finally revealed the name of the Yuan army officer who led them from the north that day, Yuru Timur.

When the cavalry returned to the camp at noon, Ye Sheng immediately reported the news.

"My lord, the 1,000 cavalrymen who went north a few days ago were indeed the ones borrowed from Taiping Road. They had already chased Xu Song to Huizhou, and only came back to support us after receiving the news that we had crossed the river. The one who brought them back was the Minister of the Secretariat of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces of the Yuan court, Yulu Timur, who is now in Lishui.

"This man is over 60 years old this year. I heard that he was born in the Qiexue Army of the Tartar Emperor. His great-grandfather was the Qiexue of Genghis Khan. The current Tartar Emperor has given him the power to act at his own discretion and let him fully supervise the suppression of the southern righteous army. Now he is the commander of the 100,000-man army in Lishui. "But the Yuan army captives said that Yuelu fell ill when he was in Huizhou. This time he came back with the disease. I don't know how long he can live."

Lu Jin nodded, "No wonder the other side is so stable, it's true that they changed their commander. But there's no need to be afraid of an old man with a disease. We have already drawn up a battle plan this morning. I'll tell you about your cavalry regiment's mission this time."

"Yes."

After Ye Sheng had lunch and listened to Lu Jin's arrangements, he realized that the mission of his cavalry regiment this time was still similar to before. They were responsible for covering the actions of the infantry formation throughout the entire battle, plus the final pursuit of the fleeing enemy, or covering the infantry's retreat.

But there is no other way. The Shengwu Army has relatively few war horses, and it is impossible to form a large cavalry group of tens of thousands of horses. So far, there are only two cavalry regiments. Such a small number of cavalry is completely incapable of undertaking independent combat missions, so they can only assist the infantry. It is unknown when he, the commander who surrendered the earliest, will be promoted to the next level.

In the afternoon, Ye Sheng led the cavalry out of the camp to scout again, while the Yuan army was also marching slowly.

Yue Lu felt that his condition was getting worse and worse. It might be because he was riding a horse in a hurry all the way back from Huizhou, which caused his condition to worsen. Now he can no longer ride a horse and can only march in a carriage, hiding in the carriage so that no one can see his illness.

In addition, the cavalry of the Jiangnan Yuan Army was inferior to that of the Shengwu Army. They were worried about being ambushed by the Shengwu Army's cavalry during the march, so they kept advancing in a battle formation ready to fight at any time. As a result, the team moved very slowly. The vanguard had already reached the west of Wuxiang Mountain, but the tail of the team was still outside Lishui City, and they only traveled less than twenty miles a day.

However, the marching formation of an army of 100,000 was really exaggerated. It was not until the evening of that day that the Yuan army reached the western foot of Wuxiang Mountain and set up camp with their backs against Wuxiang Mountain.

"Cough, cough, cough—"

Inside the Yuan army's central tent, Yue Lu was still coughing. The food brought by his personal soldiers was placed aside. He had no appetite at all. It was only after Chen Zhaoxian arrived that Yue Lu asked.

"Are there any unusual movements by the bandit army today?"

"No." Chen Zhaoxian shook his head. "The scouts reported that the enemy troops stayed in the Hengshan camp all day, but their cavalry was very powerful. By the evening, we had lost more than 300 cavalrymen, but we didn't capture a single enemy cavalry prisoner."

"Cough cough cough." Yue Lu shook his head and sighed in his heart. It seems that the cavalry can no longer be relied on now. In this battle, they can only use the two or three thousand cavalry to delay the enemy's cavalry as much as possible. Just don't let their cavalry come to cause trouble. In a pure infantry duel, the Yuan army is not afraid of Lu Jin because of its large numbers.

Seeing Yue Lu didn't say anything, Chen Zhaoxian immediately thought, "Isn't this Lu thief afraid? Didn't Lord Pingzhang say that this Lu thief wanted to fight us? Then why did they stop at Hengshan instead of moving on?"

At this time, a personal soldier brought the medicine. Yue Lu drank it in one breath and then spoke.

"They are not afraid, but there are no cities around to rely on. The Lu bandits only have two footholds in Jiangnan, Dangtu and Caishi, and Hengshan is exactly 60 miles away from Dangtu and Caishi, which is the longest marching distance in a day.

"That is to say, the bandits are stationed in Hengshan. As long as they want to go back, they can return to Dangtu within a day, and Dangtu can send troops to pick them up.

"But if they continue to advance alone, it will exceed the range of a day's march, and the food supply route will be too long. In that case, we can rely on our large number of troops and split the troops into two groups. One group will send 40,000 troops to go around the west side of Hengshan to cut off the enemy's food supply route, and the remaining 60,000 troops can directly watch the main force of the enemy. We don't have to fight this battle, and we can trap the Lu bandits to death just by sieging them."

Chen Zhaoxian was puzzled when he heard this, "Then we should continue to move forward? Why not wait for the enemy army to come over?"

"Cough, cough, cough." Yue Lu coughed violently again. After finally catching his breath, he spoke.

"The bandit army wants to fight us, but we can't keep dragging it out with the bandits. Didn't you say that he can produce his own armor and now he has recruited a large number of prisoners as soldiers? If we continue to drag it out and confront them, the bandit army will only become stronger and stronger, and it will be more difficult to wipe it out.

"Jiangnan is a land that relies on grain taxes. The imperial court will never allow bandits to occupy Jiangnan for a long time. That would be a disaster for Dadu, so we can't afford to delay."

Chen Zhaoxian frowned and nodded, then asked, "What should we do next?"

Yue Lu immediately made a decision and said, "First, arrange patrols and garrisons. The enemy army has few soldiers but many elite soldiers, so they may use night attacks. Prepare the troops. If the enemy dares to come tonight, let them never return!
"Rest for the night, and continue the march tomorrow, setting up camp west of Xiaomao."

"Yes!" When Chen Zhaoxian heard that Lu Jin might attack at night, he immediately left the tent to arrange the night defense.

Only Yuelu stayed in the big tent, worried.

Lu Jin cannot afford to drag out this battle, but the Yuan army cannot afford to drag out either. Based on various phenomena he has seen recently, Yue Lu knows that Lu Jin is a far more formidable opponent than Xu Shouhui.

Lu Jin was able to produce its own armor and recruit prisoners as soldiers. What was even more terrifying was that it distributed land to the prisoners. Coupled with his slogan of expelling the Tartars and restoring China's "justice", these factors combined meant that the speed of expansion was something that Yue Lu could not even imagine.

Yuelu was a Mongolian born in Henan Province in the Central Plains. He received Confucian education since childhood. However, the more he learned, the more he understood how fragile the Mongol Yuan Dynasty's authoritarian rule, which relied on a minority of people to suppress the majority of the Han people, was, and how strong the Han people's resistance psychology was. Coupled with the Mongols' endless oppression and exploitation, the whole world was almost a pile of gunpowder that could explode at any time. This is why Liu Futong was able to develop so rapidly.

However, in the eyes of the imperial court, the Central Plains region occupied by Liu Futong was by no means as important as the more prosperous Jiangnan region.

Once Lu Jin gains a foothold in Jiangnan, he will be able to quickly increase his military strength by distributing land and making armor. At the same time, he will be able to obtain the richest grain fields in Jiangnan to feed his troops. By then, Lu Jin will have countless troops.

If the Yuan court loses the support from Jiangnan, it will become weaker and weaker, and the world will really change hands.

It was because Yue Lu saw Lu Jin's ambition and the development model of the Shengwu Army and foresaw the huge harm that he was unwilling to continue dragging it out with Lu Jin. If he could not rush back to Jiangyou before Lu Jin armed the five regiments of captured soldiers, then the Yuan court might really lose Jiangnan.
(End of this chapter)