Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 300: The people of Huaixi are poor and arrogant?
On the afternoon of September 20, Zhang Desheng and Ye Sheng received the order and immediately led their troops to set off. Zhang Desheng led the infantry, artillery battalion, and chariot battalion to support the rear, while Ye Sheng led a cavalry regiment to go ahead.

It is only 15 miles from Xiaomao Mountain to Wuxiang Mountain. At a little after five o'clock in the afternoon, more than cavalrymen arrived at the Yuan army's camp in Wuxiang Mountain. Seeing Yuelu Timur's central army flag and the three heads of Yuelu, Chen Zhaoxian and Baoqi, the defenders of the Wuxiang Mountain camp were immediately defeated.

The people set out in the morning and the heads were delivered in the afternoon. It only took one fucking day and the 100,000-strong army was wiped out, and the enemy even beat them to their doorstep.

Seeing that the enemy's cavalry outnumbered their own infantry, the two thousand defenders immediately chose to surrender. Bian Yuanheng successfully took over the food and fodder left in the camp by the Yuan army.

Then he announced the Shengwu Army's land distribution policy to the two thousand defenders, and the two thousand surrendered soldiers immediately gave up the thought of rebellion and waited obediently to be reorganized tomorrow, hoping that Lu Jin would come over and distribute the land to them.

Wuxiang Mountain is even closer to Lishui City, only thirteen miles away. Ye Sheng continued to lead the cavalry regiment at full speed and arrived outside Lishui City at around six in the evening.

The soldiers guarding the city saw Yue Lu's central army banner from afar and immediately asked in confusion, "Huh? Why are the troops coming back? You guys watch, I'll go find the centurion."

When the soldier ran to the city to report the news, the captain on duty, Chen Hao, was still playing chess with someone, the soldier hurriedly said.

"Brother Chen, our army is back."

Chen Hao held the chess piece in his hand, staring at the chessboard without even raising his head, and cursed, "Get lost, I'm about to win, stop talking nonsense, the army has only been gone for two days, how can they come back so soon?"

The soldier immediately said aggrievedly, "They really came back, with several thousand cavalrymen, carrying the banner of Lord Pingzhang."

The more Chen Hao listened, the more he felt something was wrong. There were only 3,000 cavalrymen in Lishui, and they were temporarily assembled. Now was the time to fight a war and they needed people. How could they let the cavalrymen come back alone, carrying the central army's banner? He immediately grabbed the sword next to him and ran towards the city wall.

He leaped up to the top of the city wall in a few steps. Looking around, he saw thousands of white-armored cavalrymen running towards the city gate. Chen Hao was so scared that his fingers were shaking.

"Are you fucking blind? Those are fucking enemy troops! Close the city gates! Close the city gates! Go call General Dong, and ask the archers to climb the city walls! Hurry up and ask the archers to climb the city walls!"

There was an uproar at the city gate, and the soldiers were in chaos. Some ran to close the gate, while others crawled to call the commander guarding the city.

Ye Sheng saw it from afar outside the city, but he was not in a hurry. He came to solicit surrender, not to attack. If he rushed in at this time, a fight would be inevitable. Moreover, he only had cavalry, so he had to wait for Zhang Desheng to bring a large infantry force to attack the city.

The commander of Lishui was named Dong Xingyao. He was born into a hereditary military family of the Yuan court and was formerly a captain of the Wanhu Mansion in Jiqing Road. After the Red Turban Rebellion, he was promoted to be the chief commander of the garrison. He now had 6,000 men under his command, most of whom were new recruits who had been recruited for less than half a year.

After hearing the report from his men, Dong Xingyao hurriedly put on his armor and came to the top of the city wall. When he saw the thousands of cavalrymen outside the city and the large banners of the Yuan army in their hands, he immediately thought that something was not good.

Sure enough, after a while, several hundred cavalrymen came to a distance of 150 steps, hiding outside the range of bows and arrows. Yuru Timur's central army flag was also erected there. Then a general in white armor led several cavalrymen and came to the foot of the city carrying bamboo poles.

Dong Xingyao immediately shouted, "Who are you? Tell me your name!"

The one who came to knock on the door was Zhang Long, the captain of the cavalry regiment. Upon hearing this, he shouted loudly.

"I am the cavalry captain of the Luzhou Shengwu Army. Open your eyes and see clearly. That is your central army's banner. Your 100,000-man army has been annihilated at Xiaomao Mountain. The heads of Yulu Timur, Chen Zhaoxian and Baoqi are here. Open the city and surrender immediately. Do not resist stubbornly, otherwise I will flatten your Lishui City!"

Boom! The defenders on the city wall were immediately in an uproar and started talking in low voices.

Dong Xingyao frowned when he heard this, suspecting that this group of people were here to steal the city. The army had set out from Lishui and had only been on the march for two days. How could they have been defeated so quickly? Even if they had been defeated, the entire army would not have been wiped out. After all, it was an army of 100,000.

But what the other party said didn't sound false.

As a senior general who guarded a city alone, Dong Xingyao knew more intelligence than others. He knew that Lu Jin had captured Dangtu and Caishi on September 9th, and captured Nahachu and Chen Yesian. He also sent someone to bring Chen Yesian, who was tortured to the point of being half-crippled, over, which led to the arrival of Chen Zhaoxian.

Afterwards, Chen Zhaoxian assembled a large army in Lishui, and Yuelu Timur also ran back from Huizhou to provide support. Then, he heard that Lu Jin was leading his troops towards Hengshan, so Yuelu and Chen Zhaoxian led the army to meet him.

Xiaomaoshan is right between Hengshan and Lishui. If the two armies encounter a battle, it will indeed happen near Xiaomaoshan. This location is correct.

However, he still didn't quite believe that the army would be completely wiped out. The army had marched for two days in total. Excluding the marching time, the outcome was decided in one day? And the army was completely wiped out? It sounded absurd.

But the large banner of the central army did not look fake, and the head on the bamboo pole also looked very real. Also, if the army had not been completely wiped out, how did these people come to Lishui so leisurely? Yue Lu also brought 3,000 cavalrymen with him. Wouldn't they be able to tie down the enemy's cavalry?
Dong Xingyao's throat rolled and he couldn't help swallowing before asking.

"How can I believe that you are telling the truth? Do you dare to send the head to me so that I can carefully identify it?"

"What if I give it to you? Give him the head and the banner as well." Zhang Long said immediately.

At this time we have to show them openly, otherwise these people will think that we are fake. It doesn't matter even if the enemy refuses to admit it. When the cannons are pulled to the city, they will have to admit it even if they don't want to.

A bamboo basket was then hung on the top of the city wall. Several cavalrymen took the human heads off the bamboo poles and put them into the basket. The captured Yuan army's banner was also erected in front of the city gate. Now the defenders on the top of the city wall could see more clearly and they all talked about it in a low voice.

When the bamboo basket was pulled up to the top of the city wall, Dong Xingyao narrowed his eyes. He had seen these three people before. Yue Lu had inspected the defense of Lishui City a few days ago, and many soldiers guarding the city had also seen him. If the heads were real, then the annihilation of the entire army was probably real. Otherwise, if only half of the 100,000 troops were left, the enemy would not have chopped off the heads of the three main generals.
"Oh no, it's Marshal Chen's head. It looks like the army has really lost. Even his head was cut off."

"That seems to be the imperial envoy sent by the court, the minister of state in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. His name is Yue something, that old Tartar..."

"There was even a politician, and now they're all dead! It's so tragic."

"General, surrender. General Chen led an army of 100,000 but was defeated and lost his own head. What can we do with a few thousand shrimp soldiers and crab generals?"

Dong Xingyao turned his head and saw people on the top of the city talking in low voices. Some advised him to surrender, and some local soldiers quietly slipped away, dropped their weapons and ran back home. What the hell was this?
But when he thought of Chen Yetian's miserable condition before, he became a little worried. What if he surrendered and suffered the same fate? He couldn't win anyway. Since he was ready to surrender, he might as well do something drastic and at least save his life.

Then he shouted to Zhang Long outside the city, "Please wait a moment, sir."

Then he immediately called a few of his confidants and asked them to take the soldiers to kidnap the county magistrate and Darughachi. He also asked his personal soldiers to guard the county government office and the warehouse. He was busy for nearly half an hour. Just when Zhang Long outside the city was about to get impatient, the city gate was finally opened from the inside.

Dong Xingyao, with a group of soldiers, with the county magistrate and Darughachi tied up behind him, and holding the household registration and land books of Lishui County and the official seal of the county magistrate, came out of the city to surrender.

"The criminal general Dong Xingyao brings the official seal of the Lishui household registration office to welcome the general of the Shengwu Army."

Ye Sheng waved his hand and sent a cavalry to occupy the city gate. Then he rode forward, took the official seal from his hand, looked at it, and asked him, "Who is tied up?"

"To answer the general, it was the county magistrate Cui Yuliang and Darughachi Borolo Timur."

"How many soldiers do you have in the city?" Ye Sheng asked again.

"There are six thousand defenders."

Ye Sheng immediately arranged, "Go and take your soldiers out of the city, hand over their weapons and armor, camp outside the city tonight, and wait for disposal."

Dong Xingyao's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. If they handed over their weapons and went to camp outside the city, wouldn't they be unarmed lambs to be slaughtered? If the man in front of them suddenly attacked them, they would not be able to fight back and would have to wait for punishment. What kind of punishment would they wait for?
Just as he was hesitating about asking something, Ye Sheng said, "Then you follow him into the city and chop the Tartar down in front of the people in the city."

Dong Xingyao was delighted after hearing this. This meant that he had to surrender. If he surrendered, he would be one of them. He couldn't attack his own people, could he? So he quickly asked, "Does Cui want to come with us?"

"Just do whatever you are told to do. Don't add unnecessary things. Put the county magistrate in jail first."

"Yes, I will do it right away!" Dong Xingyao immediately clasped his fists in response, and then watched Ye Sheng lead the cavalry into the city in a grand manner.

At this moment, Chen Hao approached Dong Xingyao and whispered, "Brother Dong, if we really hand over our weapons and armor and drive out of the city, what if they attack us?"

Dong Xingyao frowned and shook his head. "He asked me to kill Darughachi in public, just to make me surrender. Even if they let me go, the court will kill me if the news gets out. I have no way out. I am one of their own. Why do they want to kill their own people?"

"But it's better to be safe than sorry." Chen Hao still said worriedly.

"Nothing unexpected!"

At this moment, another cavalry general rode his horse to a stop in front of them. It was Shen Ren, the captain of the 1st Cavalry Regiment.

Chen Hao was startled, and then he heard Shen Ren continue. "More than 20,000 people were killed in the battle of Xiaomao Mountain, and more than 70,000 were captured. There are also 2,000 defenders in your Wuxiang Mountain camp, who just surrendered. What are the 6,000 people here? If I really want to kill you, do I need you to hand over your weapons?
"To tell you the truth, the main force is right behind us. Even if you don't surrender today, we can still capture the city tomorrow.

"Take your people and camp outside the city. Tell your soldiers that those who don't want to join our Shengwu Army will be given food as severance pay and sent home. For those who are willing to join the army, we will give them land if they are tenants without land at home. Those who want to join the army should wait patiently for our army to reorganize them."

"Can I get land if I join the army?!" Chen Hao said in surprise.

"Correct."

Upon hearing this, Dong Xingyao also clasped his fists and bowed, "Thank you for telling me, General. May I ask your name and what position you hold in the army?"

"Don't bother, my name is Shen Ren, I'm from Dingyuan, Anfeng Road, and I'm one of the four captains of the cavalry regiment. The one who knocked on the door just now was another captain, Zhang, and the one who asked you to do something was Commander Ye of our regiment."

"So it's Captain Shen who came to me. I'm so sorry for my disrespect. I hope Captain Shen will take care of me in the future. This is just a small gift, not a token of respect. General, please take it and have a drink." As Dong Xingyao spoke, he took out a ten-liang silver ingot and stuffed it into Shen Ren's hand.

The 21-year-old young man was immediately frightened and panicked. He quickly declined and stuffed the silver back.

"What are you doing? There are instructors in the army to supervise military law. Don't harm me."

Dong Xingyao immediately frowned and asked in confusion, "I just invited the general to have a drink, how could it be..."

"Drinking is prohibited during combat." Shen Ren retorted with just one sentence.

"Then please have some meat, General."

"If you want to treat me to meat, just buy pork and mutton for us to eat together. I can't take the money." Shen Ren refused again, and then warned.

"Put away your cunning ideas. My Shengwu Army has clear rewards and punishments and only values ​​military merit. If you have the ability, you will be promoted, and if you don't, you will be demoted. Don't use the same tactics that the Tartar corrupt officials use on us." After saying this, he stopped paying attention to the two of them and rode his horse to follow the large army into the city.

When Chen Hao saw the people leaving, he immediately complained in a low voice, "These Huaixi Red Turbans are so poor, arrogant, and ignorant. They acted like they were going to be beheaded for just ten taels of silver, and yet they are so good at fighting."

Dong Xingyao immediately scolded him, "What do you know? This shows that they have strict military discipline, which is why they are so good at fighting. You still say that they are ignorant. I think you are the one who is blind.

"See the white cloth armor they are wearing? Each rivet on it has an iron plate inside. It's called hidden armor. Just their horses, armor, lances, swords and bows, how can you afford the whole set without a hundred taels of silver?

"I don't think these Huaixi Red Scarves are poor at all. They are very rich. They just spend all their money on making weapons and armor."

Chen Hao's eyes widened when he heard this. "My goodness, doesn't that mean that these thousands of people are armored cavalry? No wonder our cavalry are no match for them."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Dong Xingyao stuffed the ten taels of silver into Chen Hao's hand and said, "Didn't you hear me say that we should buy some pigs and sheep and treat everyone to a meal together?"

"Okay!" With the silver, Chen Hao immediately laughed. Seeing this, Dong Xingyao immediately scolded, "Don't be greedy for that little bit of money, you kid, this is for buying our brothers' lives. If it's not enough, come to me for more."

"Don't worry, Brother Dong." Chen Hao immediately took the silver and ran away.

Not long after, Dong Xingyao gathered the defenders, surrendered their weapons and armor, and marched out of the city to prepare for camping. It happened that the camp left behind by the army a few days ago was still there, so they could move in after a short rest.

Ye Sheng also led a cavalry regiment to occupy the four gates of the city, as well as important places such as warehouses and government offices, and then immediately sent someone to deliver a letter to Zhang Desheng and Lu Jin behind him.

At the same time, the news of the great victory at Xiaomaoshan was also sent westward to Dangtu.

At 10:00 p.m. in the evening, when it was about to get dark and the Dangtu city gate was about to close, several cavalrymen of the Imperial Guards wearing yellow armor finally arrived. They would stop and shout a few words whenever they saw crowded places along the way.

"Great victory! Great victory! Our army fought a decisive battle with the enemy at Xiaomao Mountain, killing more than 20,000 enemy soldiers, capturing more than 70,000, and completely annihilating Chen Zhaoxian's 100,000-strong army, and killing the Tartar governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces!"

"Great victory! Great victory! Our army fought a decisive battle with the enemy at Xiaomao Mountain, killing more than 20,000 enemy soldiers, capturing more than 70,000, and completely annihilating Chen Zhaoxian's 100,000-strong army, and killing the Tartar governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces!"

Boom! The old soldiers of the Shengwu Army guarding the city were furious when they heard this.

“We won?!”

"We wiped out 100,000 enemy troops? Wow, this is a great victory!"

"Holy Martial Army, forever victorious!"

"Drive out the Tartars, restore China, long live the Marshal!"

"Long live the handsome man!"

Several messengers entered the city, which immediately caused the garrison in the city to shout loudly. The frightened people in the city were eager to find out what had happened. Soon they received the news that the 100,000-strong Yuan army had been completely wiped out. At the same time, they were filled with emotion, some were happy, and some were heartbroken.

After a while, Li Shanchang, Feng Guoyong, Shi Nai'an and Tao An, the newly defected Director of the Ministry of Rites, all ran out after hearing the news of victory. The generals defending the city, Wu Fu and Hua Yunlong, also came over to meet them.

Li Shanchang immediately asked, "Did we really win and wipe out Chen Zhaoxian's 100,000-man army?"

"We really won. Here is the detailed victory report." The messenger immediately handed over a document.

Several people quickly took it and looked at it together, but they saw that there was no specific battle results and casualties written on it. Feng Guoyong couldn't help but wonder, "Why is there no battle results and casualties written on it? Our army killed more than 20,000 enemy troops in battle, but how many casualties did we have? Do we need to send troops to support us?"

The messenger immediately said, "There are too many prisoners, more than 70,000, and many wounded. The results of the battle have not yet been counted. The commander was afraid that the officers and generals would worry, so he asked us to come back first to report the victory.

"As for our army's casualties, it should be less than 300."

"How many? More than 20,000 people were killed in the battle, but their own casualties were less than 300. You are not talking nonsense, are you? Reporting false military intelligence will result in the death penalty." Wu Fu asked again.

"It's absolutely true. Among the less than 300 casualties, at least half of them are from the 1st Cavalry Regiment. They are all casualties from the cavalry patrol battles in the past few days. If we only count the casualties on the day of the decisive battle at Xiaomaoshan, the number should be even lower." The messenger explained immediately.

Several people were stunned. There were examples of victory of a smaller force over a larger one in history books, but they had never heard of such an exaggerated casualty ratio.

Feng Guoyong immediately asked, "Tell us in detail about the course of this battle and how it was fought."

"Don't worry about that for now. The Marshal still has tasks to assign to several gentlemen." The messenger immediately took out a stack of orders and began to distribute them to several people.

"This is for Commander Hua. The Marshal asked Commander Hua to lead a regiment to escort a basic amount of ammunition supplies to Xiaomao Mountain, and when he comes back, he will also escort a group of prisoners back.

"This is for Mr. Li. The Marshal asked the Secretariat to select a Lishui magistrate to go with Commander Hua. The Marshal has already sent a detachment to persuade Lishui to surrender at 3 p.m. today. It will take one or two days at most.

"This is for Chief Feng. The Marshal wants to expand the army by ten regiments. Please ask the Military and Political Department of the Wuyuan to issue a formal appointment letter and send it to Huainan Province together with the order. It must be sent back tonight along with the victory report. Please arrange a boat to cross the river as soon as possible.

"This is for Director Yang of the Logistics Department. The Marshal needs a lot of weapons and armor. Ask Director Yang to transport them from Luzhou as soon as possible and also send them to Jiangyou.

"Also, this is a letter the Marshal wrote to his wife. You have to take it back too."

After receiving the order, several people were immediately happy. The army was expanded by ten regiments, which meant that there were many prisoners. The magistrate of Lishui and a large amount of weapons and armor also showed that Lu Jin was winning victory after victory and everything was developing in a good direction.

After reading Lu Jin's army expansion plan, Feng Guoyong said happily, "Come on, hurry up and prepare a meal for these brothers. I will process the appointment letters right away, and you can take them across the river and send them back after dinner."

"Thank you, Chief."

(End of this chapter)