Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 301: Jinling Raiders
For the next three days, Lu Jin led the main force of the crossing river to stay in the camp at the foot of Xiaomao Mountain and did not go anywhere.

First, the prisoners were asked to clean the battlefield and bury the bodies. Then, the training officers of each department conducted a preliminary selection based on the prisoners' land properties. Those whose native places were around Dangtu and Lishui were mainly selected, followed by the poorest households who were pure tenant farmers and did not have any land. They were given priority to be relocated to Luzhou. Forty-five thousand people were selected and escorted to Hengshan Camp by Hua Yunlong.

The Hengshan Camp where Lu Jin and his men were stationed before was only sixty miles away from Dangtu and Caishi, and was large enough to temporarily house thirty to fifty thousand people. Then Wu Fu could lead the 25th Regiment to take over and transport the prisoners to Caishi and Dangtu in batches.

At the same time, people were sent to instruct Dangtu to select their own people and classify the captives according to their skills, picking out those who could read, write, do math, speak well, ride horses, and shoot arrows. They were also asked to pay attention to cultivating their own talents and not wait until there was no one available when the time came to use them.

On the Xiaomaoshan side, Lu Jin himself was not idle either. He had to convene a post-war summary meeting of the generals. At the same time, he also handled a public case and determined the subsequent immigration economic dispute issues.

The reason was that Liu Liu and Qiu Chuyi came to join the army, and the instructor promised to give them land in Huainan, but required his family to immigrate to Huainan. However, Qiu Chuyi still owed rent to the landlord, and the landlord was unhappy and moved his family away. Who would pay off the debt?

In fact, owing debts was secondary. Lu Jin moved so many people away at once, and these landlords lost a large number of laborers in an instant. They had to recruit tenants to farm the land again. But it was difficult to recruit people in the chaos of war. The land would be left idle without anyone to farm it, and the landlords certainly didn't want that.

No one paid back the debt he owed, and the farmhand who worked for him was abducted. He was at a loss twice, and where could he go to seek justice? So this desperate country tycoon came to Lu Jin to ask for an explanation.

The instructor who handled the matter felt that it was only natural to pay back debts, and even if one did not pay them back, an explanation should be given. The main reason was that there were many such cases. Among these tens of thousands of extremely poor households, at least half had debt disputes, which meant tens of thousands of cases. A model must be made to serve as an example for everyone to avoid trouble in the subsequent immigration work. So the matter was brought to the attention of Lu Jin.

Lu Jin’s approach was, I had no right to interfere in the past, but now that I was here, I had to follow the rules of the Shengwu Army. He asked someone to read a passage from the "Luzhou Provisional Criminal Law" to the landlord on the spot.

According to this interim decree, any private lending with an annual interest rate exceeding 2%, or with compound interest, will be treated as usury.

Different degrees of punishment will be imposed depending on the severity of the crime. If the crime is minor, meaning that it has not caused major losses to the victim's family, the debt will be written off and the offender will be required to compensate the victim five times the loss.

For serious crimes, such as pulling other people's cattle, demolishing other people's houses, robbing victims' property, or forcing victims to work, sending evil slaves to beat people to collect debts, and causing the victim's family to become disabled, injured, or seriously ill, the debt will be written off and the victim must be compensated ten times the loss. The principal offender will be sentenced to three to seven years in prison, and the accomplice will be sentenced to less than three years. Their descendants for three generations will not be allowed to take the imperial examinations to become officials, join the army, be officials, hold any public office, or be issued any business licenses.

For crimes with serious circumstances, namely raping the victim's family, using the victim's family to pay off debts, trafficking in human beings, or sending evil slaves to beat the victim to death or maim the victim, or forcing the victim's family to commit suicide, the debt will be written off, and the victim must be compensated for twenty times the loss. The main offender and accomplices will be beheaded and thrown into the public square, their property will be confiscated, their family will be exiled 3,000 miles away, and their descendants for five generations will not be allowed to take the imperial examinations to become officials, join the army, be officials, hold any public office, or be issued any business licenses.

Joining the army is actually a political privilege exclusive to children from good families. Do you think anyone who wants to be a soldier can do so?

The Han and Tang dynasties used sons of good families as soldiers, so they perished because of their strength. The former Song dynasty used bandits as soldiers, so it suffered the Jingkang Incident and was destroyed by the Tartars.

After hearing these orders, the landlord was so frightened that he fell to his knees with cramps in his calves.

Of course, Lu Jin was not an unreasonable person. After all, the law does not apply to the past, so all old debt cases left over from the Yuan Dynasty were given lenient sentences.

If the facts of "loan sharking" are met, if the circumstances are minor, the debt will be written off and the victim's loss will be compensated at the original price; if the circumstances are serious, the debt will be written off and three times the loss will be compensated, and there is no need to sentence to prison; if the circumstances are serious, that is, if someone is killed, the person will be severely punished, beheaded, and his property will be confiscated!
The above is only limited to old cases from the Yuan Dynasty. You didn’t know before, so I could give you a lighter sentence. But now that you know, if you knowingly commit the crime, then you will be sentenced according to the law.

In addition, regarding immigration debts, those that do not meet the standard of "loan sharking" refer to those where the interest rate is below 2% per annum and compound interest is not calculated. This type of loan is indeed a great help and should not be considered a crime.

Therefore, the Shengwu Army recognized such debts, but the interest remained invalid. The Shengwu Army compensated the remaining principal on behalf of the debtor, and the debt was written off after the compensation was completed.

It is imperative that all captured recruits are freed from the shackles of debt and allowed to go into battle lightly!
In fact, in the Yuan Dynasty, when the government took the lead in lending and the annual interest rate was 100%, there were very few private loans that did not calculate compound interest. Those who were willing to lend money to help others without asking for compound interest were truly great philanthropists who remained untainted by the mud. Therefore, not many people needed compensation from the Shengwu Army.

Moreover, Lu Jin also allowed such families to recommend a educated son to be an official. In this way, some kind-hearted gentry even took the initiative to forgive their already small debts, just to allow their children to catch the express train of the new dynasty.

As soon as this order was issued, tens of thousands of captured soldiers immediately became grateful to Lu Jin and swore allegiance to him until death. The usurious landlords were so frightened that they could only grit their teeth and accept defeat and compensate for the losses.

How dare you ask the Shengwu Army for debts? How many divisions do you have? You don't even need to send out your main forces. Just rely on these tens of thousands of new recruits. Do you think they can flatten your house? !

The mass grave under Xiaomao Mountain has not been covered yet, and Lu Jin doesn't mind burying a few more people alive!

After Lu Jin's ruling, the case was made into a model case and sent to all training officers in the army and local officials in all prefectures and counties. In the future, any similar cases in newly occupied areas would be handled according to the model.

After dealing with this matter, it took three days to clean up the battlefield and bury the bodies. Among them, 45,000 new recruits were handed over to Hua Yunlong, who was asked to take them to the Hengshan camp, and then transferred them in batches to Dangtu and Caishiji, waiting for people from Huainan to pick them up.

Lu Jin took the remaining captives, as well as some seriously injured ones, and asked them to carry themselves to Lishui. All these seriously injured ones stayed in Lishui to recuperate, and the cost of their treatment was paid from the seized public funds. When these disabled ones recovered from their injuries, they were given one stone of grain each and sent home.

In addition, the results and casualties of the battle of Xiaomaoshan were also counted. More than 13700 people were killed by artillery fire, and some bodies were so damaged that they could not be recognized.

More than 1200 Yuan cavalrymen were killed, and in the subsequent rout, more than 3400 Yuan infantrymen were killed during the pursuit. All together, about 18500 people were killed in battle. The death toll was still increasing. Most of them were hit by muskets and were seriously injured. Some died before they could be rescued.

The Shengwu Army itself suffered less than 120 casualties, of which more than were cavalry casualties, all of whom were killed or wounded in the previous cavalry patrol battle and the subsequent decisive battle. There were also more than casualties in the pursuit operations after the enemy's defeat, including minor injuries.

In addition, about 73000 prisoners were captured in this battle, including the people who remained in the Wuxiang Mountain camp, plus the people led by Dong Xingyao who surrendered directly in Lishui. The total number was , nearly .

In addition to the 85000 civilians in the Wuxiang Mountain camp, more than half of them want to join the army, and there are also people near Xiaomao Mountain who voluntarily join the army. The total number of people who can be used to expand the army is about .

There are 4500 people in a regiment. If the army is expanded to ten regiments and transferred to Huainan Province, that is people. Lu Jin still has more than prisoners left, which is enough to expand to eight or nine more regiments. However, there is a severe shortage of experienced, mature and reliable middle and senior generals. Lu Jin has to consider carefully every time he makes personnel appointments for expanding the army.

Standard weapons and armor are in short supply now. We cannot let the newly expanded troops fight with hoes. For the time being, we can only use the captured weapons of the Yuan army to deal with them.

On September 24, Lu Jin led more than 30,000 main forces across the river, as well as 40,000 prisoners, and more than 70,000 troops to move to Lishui. He then convened a meeting of generals in Lishui City to summarize the experience after the war and to discuss the next action plan.

The first was the post-war summary meeting. Because it was the first time to use the tactic of cluster bombardment, no one had any experience. Although the battle was won, it actually exposed many problems.

Zhu Shou was the first to complain.

"First of all, the formation is not suitable. We should not put the chariot camp in the first row. After two rounds of artillery fire defeated the enemy, the chariot camp was actually placed in the front, which hindered the subsequent infantry's attack.

"The artillery was moved away from the gaps between the vehicles to make way for the troops, and then the infantry attacked from the gaps between the vehicles. This adjustment process wasted a lot of time."

Lu Jin nodded and admitted his mistake, "I was too conservative. I thought it would be safer to put the car camp in the front. If the enemy rushed over, we would at least have a cover.

“But after this actual combat test, we found that when hundreds of cannons fired at the same time, the enemy simply couldn’t rush over. This was due to lack of experience. Next time we use a similar strategy, we can put all the chariot camps at the back.

"As for blocking the enemy's possible cavalry charge, we can directly put the musketeers on the front line. This will also block the cavalry charge and make it easier to charge directly after the artillery bombardment."

Everyone nodded when they heard this, and then Yang Jing also asked a question.

"There is another problem. This time we started shelling from too far a distance. I heard from the Marshal that we started firing from 1450 meters, which is nearly three miles away. According to the actual combat experience this time, the time for the artillery battalion to fire a round of ten rapid shots is only enough for the enemy infantry formation to advance to meters, or at most one mile.

"After one round of shelling, the enemy is still 700 to 800 meters away from our front line, nearly a mile and a half away. In fact, the enemy is about to collapse at this time. It doesn't matter if we don't launch a second round of shelling. The infantry should charge directly after the first round of shelling.

"But there is a problem. If our infantrymen want to charge, they have to run more than a mile from their own line before they can engage in battle with the enemy. Each infantryman is wearing 40 kilograms of armor. After running a mile and a half and then fighting with the enemy, they are almost exhausted before they even start."

Several generals present nodded after hearing this. They felt the same way. It must be damn tiring to charge so far in armor.

Yu Tonghai also echoed, "If there were no cavalry blocking the periphery and a large number of long-range musketeers participating in the battle, we, the infantry, might not be able to catch up with the enemy and let them escape." The spearmen were not afraid of fighting, but running in armor was really tiring.
Lu Jin also frowned and nodded, then said, "We are still too conservative and cautious. This is the first time we have fought such a big battle. We have no experience and are afraid that the enemy will be too close to us. So, at what distance should we fire next time?
"According to the calculation, if the enemy advances 500 meters, they will collapse after one round of test firing and one round of rapid firing with ten rounds, this time we put the chariot camp at the back and the musketeers in the first row. The musketeers will step out and adjust the formation. Then, when they are 200 meters away from the enemy, they will start firing while marching. Each company will fire one round of volleys. When they are within 50 meters of the enemy, we will fire another round of volleys from the whole army and then rush up to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

“So the distance for firing should be 500 meters plus 300 meters, when the musketeers adjust their formation, fire volleys while marching, and the distance the enemy is advancing under the fire. The first shot should be fired when the enemy is 800 meters away from our army, so as to shorten the distance of the charge.

"When they reach 800 meters, they will fire a round of rapid fire first. After that, regardless of whether the enemy army has collapsed or not, the musketeers will immediately form a team and attack. They will adjust their formation within 100 meters, and at this time they will be exactly 200 meters away from the enemy. Then they will start firing while moving. The last round of volley fire within 50 meters will completely collapse the enemy army. Then they will rush a few dozen meters and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, or chase down the fleeing enemy soldiers.

"Speeding up the tempo of battle can reduce the enemy's reaction speed to a greater extent and defeat the enemy in the shortest possible time."

Upon hearing this, the generals nodded in succession.

"Yes, that's the way to fight. In fact, in the battle of Xiaomaoshan, there was no need to fire the second round of artillery fire. It was just that the enemy was too far away at that time. If we had fired at 800 meters, it would have been perfect. Our infantry could have rushed out and caught up with the enemy in just a few steps."

"Well, this distance is neither too far nor too close, just right, let's do it this way next time!"

Seeing that everyone agreed, Lu Jin immediately made the decision, "That's it, then let's talk about the next move. It's almost the end of September, we have to speed up our attack."

So everyone immediately spread out the map and began to calculate the troop strength and study the battle plan. During these few days, Bao Yu was also summoned by Lu Jin to provide intelligence support for the army's next actions.

Lu Jin pointed to Jiankang (Nanjing) and several surrounding cities and said.

"Jiankang is a big city with a population of 400,000 to 500,000 soldiers and civilians. It is surrounded by a network of rivers and canals. It is not an easy city to attack. If we directly attack the city, it is easy to be trapped under the fortified city and lose morale. Then the Yuan army outside may come to support us soon. By then, the enemy army will cooperate with us from both sides, and our army will be attacked from both sides. This will be very difficult.

"So we should first clean up the perimeter, build a reliable perimeter defense line, and cut off the enemy's support. This way, the Yuan army in Jiankang will know that they have no reinforcements, and their morale will surely drop sharply, which will be beneficial to our subsequent siege. Even if the battle takes a little longer, it doesn't matter. At least we don't have to worry about the enemy cutting off our retreat."

Yang Jing looked at the map and said.

"Then we need to decide where to scan first. Jiankang City is located at the bend of the Yangtze River. The northwest and north sides are all surrounded by the Yangtze River, so we can ignore it. The strategic points on the southeast periphery include Caishiji, Dangtu, and Jurong. These are the cities closest to Jiankang.

"Now that Caishiji and Dangtu are in our hands, if we only occupy the nearest key points, we only need to take Jurong, and there will be no other cities bordering Jiankang south of the Yangtze River, and we can launch an attack on Jiankang.

“If we want to fight like this, we can deploy three regiments of Xu Yong’s 110th Division to garrison Dangtu, Caishi, and Lishui where we are now. One regiment will guard each city. Then we can still use the 103th, 4th, and 9th regiments of the 17rd Division, plus a cavalry regiment and two imperial guards brigades. We can also bring three regiments of Chang Yuchun’s 109th Division, plus captured soldiers to serve as temporary laborers.

"In this case, not counting the civilians, we can gather 47500 troops. With the civilians, that's nearly troops. It shouldn't be a problem to take Jiankang."

Everyone was very excited when they heard this number of troops, especially Zhang Desheng, Yu Tonghai and other Chaohu veterans. Thinking back to September last year, their Chaohu navy only had 7,000 troops in total. Unexpectedly, in just one year, they could already gather 90,000 troops to attack Jiankang!!!

However, Yang Jing changed the subject and continued.

"But fighting this way is risky. Just now the commander-in-chief said that the Yuan army might support us from behind. If we use Jiankang as the center and draw a defense circle outward, the first circle will be Jurong, Lishui, Dangtu and Caishiji. If we take these three cities, we can surround Jiankang.

“But if we draw a second defense circle, then there are six cities outside: Dantu (Zhenjiang) in Zhenjiang Road, Danyang County, Jintan County, Liyang County, Jianping County, and Wuhu County.

“Especially the three cities of Zhenjiang, Danyang, and Jintan, which are only 60 to 80 miles away from Jurong. If we march quickly, they can all be reached in two days.

"So if we only occupy Jurong and then take a large army to attack Jiankang, once the enemy comes to support, Jurong will most likely have to withstand the attack from the three cities in the east alone. The Jurong defenders must block the counterattack of the Yuan army in the east, so that we can calmly attack Jiankang."

"What's your suggestion? Should we only play the first round, or the second round as well?" Lu Jin asked.

Yang Jing said immediately, "I suggest that we fight a second round and push the outer defense line to Zhenjiang, and directly confront the Yuan army in Changzhou. There is only one city near Changzhou that can be used as a starting point. As long as we occupy Zhenjiang, Danyang, and Jintan, the three cities will support each other. If the enemy in Changzhou wants to come over, they will have to face the siege of our three cities at the same time. In this way, the eastern defense line can be more stable.

"As for Liyang on the southern front, it is too far from Jiankang, more than 350 miles away. Even if they want to send troops to support it, it will be difficult to sustain. We can put it aside for now and save it for later.

"If we follow the second plan, we can split our troops into two groups. One group will attack Jurong, and the other group will concentrate more forces to sweep all the way from Jintan to Zhenjiang. After we take them down, we can let the three regiments of Chang Yuchun's 109th Division guard these three cities respectively. Then the main forces will gather in Jurong and march towards Jiankang."

Everyone nodded when they heard this. This time, when formulating the battle plan, Lu Jin tried to speak as little as possible and mainly asked for the opinions of the generals. The purpose was also to cultivate their strategic planning capabilities and grow them as quickly as possible. So he asked again.

"Which plan do you think is better?"

Zhu Shou thought for a moment and said, "It depends on how the enemy's forces are deployed. If there are too many defenders in Jiankang, we should only attack the inner circle, capture Jurong, send elite troops to garrison, send out scouts to the southeast, and concentrate our superior forces to attack Jiankang.

"If Jiankang has few soldiers and does not require too many troops to deal with, then we should proceed step by step, first clear the line from Zhenjiang to Jintan, send troops to garrison, and the rest of the people will attack Jiankang."

Lu Jin nodded and praised, "Good, you know to ask for intelligence before making a plan. Then let the Duke tell us about the enemy situation in Jiqing Road."

"Yes." Bao Yu immediately stepped forward to introduce the situation around Jiankang.

"I suggest following Manager Yang's second plan and attacking the periphery of Zhenjiang Road directly.

"According to the previous intelligence summary of the Jiangning Station of the Military Command Intelligence Bureau and the last intelligence transmission, we now know that there are about 200,000 soldiers in Jiqing Road. All of these soldiers are under the command of the Jiqing Road Volunteer Army Marshal Chen Yexian and his son. Now both of them have been executed.

"When the Yuan court launched a counterattack against Xu Shouhui, Dong Tuanxiao dispatched 50,000 troops from Jiqing Road to support him. He has not returned yet. Of the remaining 150,000 troops, 100,000 have been annihilated by us. The remaining 50,000 troops are currently stationed in various places in Jiqing Road and Zhenjiang Road.

"According to the news from the Jiangning Intelligence Station, after Chen Zhaoxian transferred troops from various places, Jurong, Jintan, Danyang, and Liyang, each of these cities currently has only 3,000 defenders. Dantu, the capital of Zhenjiang Road, has slightly more troops, about 6,000, and some of them do not listen to Chen Zhaoxian's orders.

"In this case, the number of troops in the five outer cities should be between 15,000 and 20,000, and the total number of troops defending Jiankang should be around 35,000.

"Considering that these soldiers were previously commanded by Chen Yexian and his son, and that Lishui County was successfully persuaded to surrender, I think we can just take the heads of Chen Zhaoxian, Yuelu, and Baoqi, and the Yuan army's banner, and persuade them to surrender. These cities only have about 3,000 defenders, so they shouldn't put up much resistance.

"Even if they resist, it won't be difficult to break through. The capital of Zhenjiang Road might be a little troublesome. The garrison here doesn't listen to the orders of Chen and his son. But my intelligence agency still has spies in Dantu City. If we force an attack, we can let the spies in the city cooperate with the outside world. It shouldn't be difficult to break the city."

Everyone clapped their hands when they heard this.

Yu Tonghai said immediately, "There are only 3,000 defenders in a city, and they are all defeated. What else can we say? Just fight our way through!"

Zhang Desheng also said, "Yes, we still have spies in Zhenjiang City, which makes it safer. Moreover, Zhenjiang City is close to the river. If things really don't work, we can also transfer the three warships from Niuzhuji to there. The army and the navy will advance together, and we can fire from the shore and the river. Let's see how long Zhenjiang can hold out!"

"Do you all agree to fight like this?" Lu Jin asked, glancing at the generals.

"Ah."

"Just fight."

Lu Jin nodded, and immediately stood up and said, "Okay, pass on my military order. Xu Yong of the 24th Regiment will stay in Dangtu, Wu Fu of the 25th Regiment will be transferred to Caishi, Hua Yunlong of the 26th Regiment will be transferred to Lishui, and three regiments of Chang Yuchun's 109th Division will be transferred to Lishui to assemble. Once the troops arrive, we will set out to attack Nanjing!"

(End of this chapter)