Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 303 Sweeping Jinling (Part )

Hearing Lu Jin's question, Yang Jing looked at the map and then spoke.

"From Zhuge Liang's perspective, failure was almost inevitable for Xu and Song's expedition to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The Art of War says, 'Use the normal to unite and the unusual to win,' but Xu and Song only had the unusual but not the normal, and this was the biggest reason for their failure.

"First, from March to June this year, the rear of Xu Song lost thousands of miles of territory and was in danger. The rear was unstable, so the Eastern Expedition was very hasty and did not receive support from the rear. Their original purpose of the Eastern Expedition was to open up the situation from the outside. The decision to send troops was wrong in itself.

"Secondly, the Eastern Expedition had too few troops. Because of the small number of troops, there was no way to combine the right and the unorthodox. They were forced to take risky measures, such as attacking Yuling Pass by surprise and crossing mountains and ridges to attack Hangzhou. They had no way to establish a stable food supply route. Therefore, once the Yuan army counterattacked, the Xu Song army, which was alone and deep in the territory, would inevitably fail.

"Their starting points are Raozhou and Huizhou. If I were to lead the troops, I should split them into two groups. One main force would attack the Jinqu Basin directly from Raozhou and then move eastwards into the plains of eastern Zhejiang. The other group would go out of Yuling Pass and attack Hangzhou's flank by crossing the mountains. The combination of the main and the unconventional forces would make it difficult for the enemy to take care of both ends, and we would surely win this battle.

"Moreover, the Jinqu Basin is surrounded by mountains on both sides. As long as we can attack it steadily, we can establish a stable passage. Even if the Yuan army wants to counterattack, it will be difficult. With this passage, our army can continuously transport troops and food to eastern Zhejiang.

"Third, without food supplies, they can only temporarily collect food from the occupied areas. Lack of food will lead to unstable morale in the army, and the generals will take risks because they can't afford to delay. This is why Zhao Kuo was defeated by Bai Qi. The Zhao army was short of food, so they had to take the initiative to fight. The Qin army had sufficient food and grass, so they could calm down and fight steadily. When people are anxious, they are prone to make mistakes and reveal flaws, which are easily taken advantage of by the enemy.

"Fourth, there is no stable rule over the newly occupied territories. In the cities that have just been conquered, the old officials of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty are often used. The army is triumphant all the way, but once the war situation is repeatedly unfavorable, it will lead to rebellion in the rear.

“So if I am allowed to lead the troops to fight, the Marshal must send a large number of civil officials to accompany me. Every time we conquer a city, we must leave troops to garrison there, leave local officials to govern the place, explain policies, stabilize the rear, and transport food, fodder, and ammunition.

"Fifth, Xu and Song have no intelligence support and are completely in the dark about Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They just fight wherever they can. The Marshal once said that this is called opportunism and that we should not rely on luck.

"In general, they still lacked strategic planning, their goals were unclear, and their strategies were uncertain. They just wanted to capture Hangzhou and break the situation, but they had no idea whether the enemy would counterattack after taking Hangzhou. Therefore, when the Yuan army counterattacked, they immediately lost their composure and were driven back all the way."

Yang Jing first analyzed the success and failure of Xu Song's attack on Hangzhou, paused, and then spoke.

"If we attack Jiangsu and Zhejiang, we must first determine a clear strategic goal. Where should we stop and what is the goal?"

Lu Jin said immediately, "The strategic goal is to cut off the Yangtze River waterway and prevent others from the north of the Yangtze River from going south to share Jiangsu and Zhejiang with us. Jiangsu and Zhejiang can only be ours.

"The essence of the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang is the Taihu Plain in northern Zhejiang. There are a large population and food here. Only by taking over this place can we have the capital to compete for the world.

"But if we want to firmly control the plains of northern Zhejiang, we must at least occupy all of the plains of northern Zhejiang and push the defense line to the mountains of central Zhejiang. With the help of the dangerous terrain of the mountains, we will prevent the Yuan army from fighting back."

Yang Jing, Chang Yuchun and others nodded, and then Yang Jing spoke.

"The second question is, if we want to cut off the Yangtze River waterway and occupy the Yangtze River in the south of the Yangtze River, should we attack Yangzhou in the north of the Yangtze River? If we don't attack Yangzhou, we have to deploy heavy troops in the riverside areas in the south of the Yangtze River and establish a Yangtze River defense line, which will take up a lot of manpower."

Lu Jin added, “I will send the 35th Army eastward to sweep the Huaidong area and occupy the riverside line in Jiangbei, so there is no need to deploy too many troops in Jiangnan.

Yang Jing nodded again, looked at the map for a while, and then said, "If this is the way to fight, then our ultimate goal of this battle is to start from Zhenjiang Road, occupy Shaoxing Road and Qingyuan Road, occupy Xinchang, Fenghua, and Ninghai, fight to the Tiantai Mountain line, seal the eastern gate of the Jinqu Basin, and occupy all the plains."

"Yes, that's the purpose." Lu Jin nodded in agreement.

Yang Jing immediately began to count the cities on the map, starting from Jintan and Danyang, heading east, Changzhou Prefecture, Jiangyin Prefecture, Wuxi, Changshu, Kunshan (Taicang), Jiading, Shanghai, Songjiang Prefecture, Changzhou (Suzhou), Wujiang, Jiaxing, Haiyan, Haining, Chongde, Hangzhou.
There are 15 cities along the way, covering a distance of nearly 800 miles. Assuming a daily march of 30 miles, it would take about 26 days just to reach the city of Hangzhou, not including the time for siege operations. The Shengwu Army had never fought such a big battle before.

Yang Jing thought about it again and again before pointing at the map and talking to himself.

"It is best to split the troops into two groups. One group goes north of Taihu Lake, along Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Songjiang Prefecture, Jiaxing, and Hangzhou. In this way, there are 15 cities along the way, covering a distance of nearly miles.

"In every city we conquer, we must station soldiers and officers there. Even if it is to save manpower, we should station a regiment in the prefectural capital, a battalion in the county town, and a regiment in Changzhou. Jiangyin is an important port, so it would be best to station a navy or a regiment of infantry there.

"Wuxi, Changshu, Kunshan, Jiading, and Shanghai can each leave a battalion. Suzhou, Songjiang Prefecture, and Jiaxing Prefecture should each station a regiment. Wujiang, Haiyan, Haining, and Chongde should each leave a battalion.

"The remaining garrison would have to have seven regiments of troops, and there would also have to be mobile combat forces to continue the attack on Hangzhou. Therefore, the Northern Route Army would have to have at least two armies, 12 regiments, and 54000 combat troops. This way, when the main force reaches Hangzhou, it will still have five regiments of offensive forces, not counting the civilians."

Everyone nodded in agreement. After listening to Yang Jing's detailed calculations, they realized how many troops were needed to attack Hangzhou. With this concept in mind, they could make preparations in advance.

If you don't plan ahead, you will have immediate worries. If you don't plan ahead, how will you know what preparations to make?

For example, after taking Nanjing, how much more military force would be needed?
How much food should be prepared to complete this battle?
How many vehicles, mules, horses, boats and laborers are needed to transport food and fodder?
How many civil servants are needed to govern these places?
In this kind of situation, if you don't calculate and prepare in advance, and only find out when the battle starts that you don't have enough troops and food, you will most likely lose.

Lu Jin asked again, "What about the southern army?"

Yang Jing waved his finger and pointed in the direction of Liyang.

"The southern army set out from Lishui and first joined forces to attack Liyang. After taking Liyang, the troops were divided into two groups, one going through Yixing, Changxing, Huzhou, and Deqing, and attacking along the southern bank of Taihu Lake.

"The other route will go through Wuya Mountain, Jianping (Langxi), Guangde, Anji, and Wukang, attacking along the mountain road. Eventually, the two armies on the southern line will meet in Wukang and Deqing, and then the north and south will meet to attack Hangzhou together.

"After taking Hangzhou, the Southern Army sent a detachment westward to attack Yuhang, Lin'an, Yuqian, Changhua, and Yulingguan, guarding this mountain passage. This was also the route Xu and Song took, but we were fighting from east to west.

"After the capture of Hangzhou, the main force of the army was divided into three routes and continued to attack southward. The western route followed the Fuchun River to capture Fuyang, Xincheng, and Tonglu; the central route followed the Puyang River and Cao'e River to attack Zhuji, Pujiang, Shengxian, and Xinchang, occupying all areas north of Tiantai Mountain;
"The Eastern Route Army attacked Shaoxing, Shangyu, Yuyao, Dinghai, Jingguo (Dinghai County on the Zhoushan Islands in later generations), Qingyuan (Ningbo), Ninghai, and Xiangshan, occupying the eastern foot of Tiantai Mountain to the coastal area, blocking the passage to the north from Fujian, and the battle was over."

Yang Jing counted the cities again and continued.

"The southern army set out from Liyang and fought all the way to Tiantai Mountain, where there were 29 cities. Although the southern and northern armies joined forces to continue the attack, it was not easy.

"Lianyang is located in the rear, so only one battalion can be stationed there. Yixing and Changxing do not need too many troops, but Jianping is close to Xuancheng, so at least one regiment should be stationed there to guard against the enemy troops in Ningguo Road. Guangde Road is the prefectural capital, so the troops cannot be too few, so one regiment should be stationed there. Huzhou is also a prefectural capital, so one regiment should be stationed there as well.

“Anji, Wukang, and Deqing can each station a battalion, and Yuhang, Lin’an, Yuqian, Changhua, and Yulingguan, this line needs at least one division;

"One division for Puyang River, one division for Cao'e River, and from Shaoxing east to Ninghai and Xiangshan, there are a total of nine cities. At least two divisions and six regiments are needed, and all together 9 regiments are needed."

Everyone couldn't help but jump their eyelids when they heard this. This army size was too exaggerated. However, if you count the cities, it's actually not that many. After all, this is almost half of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, with a total of 36 prefectures and counties, and Yang Jing only asked for 32 regiments of soldiers.
Yang Jing added, "The Northern Army has 12 regiments. After taking Hangzhou, one regiment will be left to garrison. If the casualties are not too severe, there should be 4 regiments left to continue fighting. Then the Southern Army only needs to prepare 16 regiments.

"12 plus 16, a total of 28 regiments, a total of 12 troops, 6 divisions and one regiment, four and a half armies." Yang Jing blinked after he finished the calculation, looked at Lu Jin and asked again.

"Marshal, what is the organization of the army?"

Lu Jin thought for a moment and said, "A group army consists of two to three armies, four to six divisions, 4 to 6 regiments, and a total strength of 12 to 18 men. The chief officer is called the group army commander, with the title of general.

"Above the army group, there is also a front army, or an army group, which has two or three army groups under it, with a total strength of about 200,000. The chief officer is called the governor of the front army, with the rank of general."

Chang Yuchun's eyes widened immediately after hearing this. His biggest wish before was to lead a hundred thousand soldiers and rule the world, but now Lu Jin actually proposed a military position of two hundred thousand soldiers, which immediately made him so excited that his mouth was dry and his blood was boiling.

"Marshal, I want to be this! Governor-General of the Front!"

"Hahahahaha-"

Everyone burst into laughter when they heard this. Chang Yuchun was going to lead 100,000 soldiers, which was considered an old joke among the veterans of the Shengwu Army.

Of course, it wasn't the kind of laughter that was malicious and sarcastic. Most of the laughter was just a joke. Everyone just thought he was outspoken and said whatever he thought. Everyone still recognized Chang Yuchun's combat ability and bravery.

After Lu Jin had a decisive battle with Kang Maocai in Chao County, this guy came to join the army. As soon as he joined, he said that he would lead 100,000 soldiers. Everyone thought that he was ignorant and full of big talk. At that time, the entire Shengwu Army had less than 100,000 soldiers in total.

But later, Lu Jin tested his martial arts, and found that this kid could actually fight on equal terms with Zhu Liangzu, the most powerful soldier in the army. You should know that Zhu Liangzu was captured alive after being besieged by eight Chaohu veterans. It was very rare for Chang Yuchun to fight him on equal terms. Everyone recognized his martial arts prowess, and he was later appointed as a thousand-household battalion officer by Lu Jin.

Chang Yuchun's first battle was when he led a battalion to launch a surprise attack on Chuzhou City on a snowy night. He captured Chuzhou in one battle and was awarded the title of regiment commander for his meritorious service as the first to land. His second battle was this crossing of the river. He wore two layers of heavy armor, bravely took the lead, charged in the front, captured Niuzhuji and Caishiji, and refused to retreat even after being hit by more than fifty arrows. After the battle, he was promoted to commander-in-chief.

Everyone saw how brave he was in battle and admired him very much. Making fun of him for wanting to lead 100,000 soldiers was mostly just a joke between brothers, and Chang Yuchun himself didn't care.

Lu Jin couldn't help laughing and said, "You've only been promoted to Major General for a few days, and you're already thinking about becoming the Governor of a Front."

Chang Yuchun seemed not to have heard it, and said seriously, "It's not short. It's been half a month since I was promoted to the commander-in-chief."

"Hahahahaha-"

Everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter when they heard this.

Lu Jin also smiled and said, "Well, after we finish fighting Jiankang this time, I will let you lead the army alone and see how you fight. If you make military achievements, I will promote you to be the general manager of the army. If you make more achievements, I will promote you to be the general of the group army. When you can be promoted to the governor of the front army, it all depends on your own ability."

Chang Yuchun frowned when he heard this, "Does the Marshal mean that you don't want me to attack Hangzhou?"

Lu Jin shook his head and said, "I have other plans for you. You are not included in the sequence of this Eastern Expedition." "Oh." Chang Yuchun nodded in agreement.

Lu Jin stood up again at this time and looked at the generals and said seriously.

"Order the entire army to prepare food at 3 a.m. tomorrow and move camp at 5 a.m., and divide the troops into two groups to advance towards Jiankang.

“I will lead Zhu Shou’s 37st Brigade of Imperial Guards, the newly formed th Regiment, and captured soldiers, and drive straight to Jurong.

"Yang Jing will lead the 103rd Division, Chang Yuchun's 109th Division, Zhang Wen's 103nd Brigade of the Imperial Guards, and Ye Sheng's st Cavalry Regiment to attack the three cities of Jintan, Danyang, and Zhenjiang. After they are captured, Chang Yuchun's three regiments will garrison them. Then Yang Jing will lead the main force of the rd Division, as well as the nd Brigade of the Imperial Guards and the Cavalry Regiment to meet me in Jurong. We will join forces and then attack Jiankang.

"In this battle, we must advance quickly. Ye Sheng must lead the cavalry regiment as the vanguard and take the heads of Yue Lu and Chen Zhaoxian to persuade the enemy to surrender. If the enemy does not surrender, we can attack the city.

"You are on this journey. Yang Jing is the main general, Zhang Wen and Chang Yuchun are the left and right deputy generals, and Ye Sheng is the vanguard. It is now the night of September 25th. I will give you ten days. I hope to hear good news from you before the fifth day of next month."

"Yes!" All the generals responded in unison.

The next morning, on September 1352, 17, the th year of Zhizheng, the th day after the Shengwu Army crossed the river, the army had breakfast and began to move out.

Jurong was 80 li away from Lishui. Lu Jin led more than 40 combat soldiers and captured recruits, marching at a speed of li a day. He arrived at the city of Jurong in two days and then surrounded Jurong with more than people.

The commander of Jurong was named Zhan Chao. Like Dong Xingyao, he was also a captain of the Wanhu Mansion in Jiqing Road. He only had 3,000 men under his command to defend the city. When he saw Lu Jin leading an army of more than 50,000 to besiege the city, he felt under great pressure.

Lu Jin then ordered the 40,000 captives to the foot of the city and shouted slogans such as "Yue Lu's entire army was wiped out, Chen Zhaoxian and his son were beheaded in battle, surrender and you can save your life, forgive the brutal Yuan usury, get your slaves and relatives back, expel the Tartars and restore our China, and stop being slaves to the Tartars." The morale of the defenders was shaken after hearing this.

Then let Dong Xingyao go to persuade him to surrender. If he surrenders, he can start as a regiment commander, and Lu Jin can even promote him. If you don't believe it, Dong Xingyao himself is a living example. You can decide whether to choose to go down the same path and be buried with the Yuan court, or to become an officer of the new dynasty.

Zhan Chao had no choice. He only had 3,000 soldiers, and they were completely demoralized by the shouting of Lu Jin's captives. He wanted to be beaten with his head? He just surrendered in the city and became Lu Jin's captive.

On the evening of the 27th, Jurong City was broken!
After taking Jurong, Lu Jin immediately sent Bian Yuanheng with a team of cavalry to Jiangning near Jiankang to pick up Ji Xuan, the station chief of the Jiangning Station of the Intelligence Bureau. In order to facilitate communication, Ji Xuan placed the headquarters of the Jiangning Station outside the city, so he was not trapped in the city.

When Ji Xuan saw Lu Jin, he immediately bowed excitedly, "Greetings, Marshal!"

Lu Jin personally stepped forward and helped him up. "Stationmaster Ji, you have worked hard. The success of our army in this battle is all thanks to the intelligence support from Jiangning Station. You have made great contributions in this battle. After the war, you will be promoted to the fourth-rank prefect of Jiankang."

Ji Xuan was very excited when he heard this. He is 32 years old and from Chuzhou. He used to be a private school teacher in Chuzhou. Later he took part in the Lu Jin examination, but unfortunately he failed and was not admitted. After that, he stayed in Chongwenguan to study Gongshu Secret Classic, hoping to get an official vacancy in the next round of expansion.

However, it didn't take long before this guy was luckily chosen by Bao Yu to be the intelligence chief of Jiqing Road. Ji Xuan refused to work as a spy in the enemy-occupied area at first, but when he learned that he could start as a fourth-rank prefect after the success, he immediately agreed.

Then, after some training from Bao Yu, he learned about the structure of the intelligence organization, as well as the intelligence teams, safe houses, single-line contacts, and dead mailboxes. He immediately felt more at ease. With such a strict organizational structure, as long as he was careful, being a spy didn't seem to be as dangerous as he thought.

After being sent to the south of the Yangtze River, this guy bought a warehouse outside the city of Jiankang, near the Jiangning riverside wharf, and made a living by renting out warehouses near the wharf.

Now there is war and chaos, business is bad, there are fewer merchants on the Yangtze River, and it is even more difficult to maintain a warehouse. That's why he bought a warehouse at a super low price, so he had a place to stay. Moreover, this place is close to the dock, which is convenient for ships to cross the river and transmit messages. After that, he began to send people to collect intelligence everywhere, draw maps, and then send them back to Luzhou in a steady stream.

He risked his life and went to the enemy-occupied area to work as a spy, all for the promise of this fourth-rank prefect. Now that the army is finally at the gates of the city and Lu Jin has fulfilled his promise, how can he not be excited.

Ji Xuan quickly kowtowed again, his voice sobbing.

"Thank you for your cultivation, Marshal. I am just asking around for some information. Compared with the soldiers who are fighting in battle, I cannot say that it is hard work. This is what I should do. If it were not for the recommendation of Bao Zhangsi and the appreciation of the Marshal, who gave me this opportunity, how could I have made such a small contribution?"

"Okay, okay." Lu Jin helped him up again.

"You don't have to be modest. What belongs to you is yours. The intelligence and maps you sent have been witnessed by the officers and soldiers in the army. Your contributions are obvious to everyone. I will reward those who have made contributions and punish those who have made mistakes. You have made great contributions, so you should be rewarded.

"But Jiankang is still in the hands of the enemy. Before you take office as the prefect of Jiankang, I have one more thing for you to do."

"Please give your orders, Marshal." Ji Xuan responded quickly.

Lu Jin said, "I have captured many prisoners in Xiaomao Mountain. Some of these prisoners are from Jiankang and its surrounding areas. I have asked people to pick out 200 to 300 people. You follow the cavalry to send these people back to their hometowns and ask them to go back to their hometowns to publicize our army's policies, including abolishing the Yuan court's usury and recovering the families of those who were trafficked. I will give land to all those who are willing to join our Shengwu Army.

"There is news that 200,000 Shengwu troops are about to attack Jiankang. The more widely you spread the news, the better. It would be best if you could spread it to Jiankang City so that the defenders in the city can also hear the news and shake their morale. Can you do it?"

Ji Xuan thought for a moment and said, "It's not difficult to get the news to the city. There are about 30,000 to 40,000 defenders in Jiankang now, of which less than 20,000 are in the city, and the other 20,000 are camped outside the city. These two groups of defenders should be connected.

"Although we can't enter the city now, it's not difficult to spread the news to the military camp outside the city. Once the military camp outside the city knows about it, the people inside will also know about it."

"Okay, let's do as you say. Send out your men and do everything they can to spread the news and win this final battle." Lu Jin nodded and ordered.

"Yes! I will do my best!" Ji Xuan immediately took the order and left.

Lu Jin also asked Bian Yuanheng to take more than 800 cavalrymen from the Imperial Guard Cavalry Battalion and lead the 300 captives from Jiankang to send them back to their hometown, and by the way, asked Bian Yuanheng to scout the situation around Jiankang City.

Ji Xuan also went back and mobilized all the intelligence teams in his hands to do this last thing for the army to capture Jiankang.

At the same time, Yang Jing was not idle either.

Lishui is 120 miles away from Jintan. Lu Jin asked them to advance quickly, so Yang Jing led his troops to advance 50 miles a day and arrived at Jintan at noon on the th, but the battle did not take place.

Ye Sheng led a cavalry regiment as the vanguard, holding the heads of Chen Zhaoxian, Yue Lu and Bao Qi, as well as the Yuan army's central army banner to persuade them to surrender. Jintan Shoujiang also had only 3,000 defenders, so they chose to surrender.

In fact, Jintan had already surrendered on the 27th. After Yang Jing led a large force to arrive on the 28th, he left Zhou Xing's 109rd Regiment of the 23th Division to guard the city. The army did not stop at all and continued to march towards Danyang.

Danyang was exactly 60 miles away from Jintan. Ye Sheng led the cavalry to continue to persuade the surrender. This time he also brought the surrendered generals from Jintan with him, and asked him to persuade the surrender in person. With the heads of Chen Zhaoxian and Yue Lu, and the guarantees of his former colleagues, the Danyang defenders also opened the city to surrender, and were then taken by Ye Sheng to Zhenjiang.

Danyang City was taken over by Yang Jing on the 29th, leaving Wang Zhiyuan's 22nd Regiment to guard it while the army continued to advance towards Zhenjiang.

It was not until they reached the city of Zhenjiang that Chen Zhaoxian and Yue Lu's brains began to fail.

The commander of Zhenjiang Road was named Fan Shizhong, with 6,000 soldiers under his command. He had learned a few days ago that the Shengwu Army was heading north, so he temporarily recruited 4,000 men from the city. Now there were a total of 10,000 defenders in the city. Of course, most of them were able-bodied civilians captured temporarily, and among them were spies from the Shengwu Army lurking in the city.

This guy also stored a large amount of city defense equipment in the city, such as gold juice, hot oil, rolling logs and stones, and 600 archers. While defending the city, he also sent boats across the river to Yangzhou for help, and also sent another group to Changzhou for help.

Although Fan Shizhong knew Chen Yexian and his son, Zhenjiang Road and Jiqing Road were not in the same administrative division. He was also a hereditary thousand-householder appointed by the court and did not look down on volunteer marshals like Chen Yexian.

Moreover, Zhenjiang Road is located at a strategic point and is an important ferry crossing where the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River meet. Once Zhenjiang is captured by the Shengwu Army, the Grand Canal will be completely invalidated. Lu Jin is stuck here, and Jiangnan will have no chance of getting a single grain of food to the north from here.

Although the canal is now abandoned, the sesame plum is still stuck in Xuzhou where the canal meets the Yellow River.
However, Yuan Shundi Xiaotieguo and Tuotuo who were far away in Dadu did not seem to be in a hurry. Lu Jin had previously persuaded Tuotuo to cultivate land in Dadu, and it was heard that the harvest was good. Now Tuotuo is collecting grain near Dadu. After the harvest, he may head south and is expected to arrive near Xuzhou in November. Lu Jin must speed up the advance.
Upon hearing that Zhenjiang Road refused to surrender, Yang Jing quickened his march and arrived at the city of Zhenjiang on the evening of the 30th. That night, a spy lurking outside the city came to Yang Jing to report that Fan Shizhong had prepared a large amount of gold juice and hot oil in the city.

Yang Jing frowned immediately. This thing was extremely disgusting. Even if the soldiers were wearing armor, it would cause heavy casualties.

Yang Jing called a meeting of the generals and asked everyone if they had any ideas.

Qin Zhao, the battalion commander of the artillery battalion of the Second Brigade of the Imperial Guard, came up with an idea. He said that Lu Jin had taught them a kind of artillery technique. They could build a battery at the corner of the city wall, facing the city wall, and then pull the cannon to the battery and fire grenades or solid bullets at the city wall at a high angle. This would create a ricochet attack on the top of the city wall, sweeping across the defenders on the city and overturning all the cauldrons of burning gold juice on the city wall.

Yang Jing immediately adopted this suggestion and ordered people to build a fort.

Everybody contributed their armored helmets and sacks, filled them with sand and made sandbags, and built two artillery batteries in the southwest corner of Zhenjiang City that day. Then everybody took great pains to move two light howitzers weighing more than 700 kilograms onto the batteries.

The next morning, October 1st, Yang Jing launched an attack on Zhenjiang.

Two howitzers on the turret fired at the city wall. The 14-jin iron bullets bounced and rolled on the wall, spilling all the hot oil and gold juice prepared by Fan Shizhong. Then the two cannons started firing flower grenades, and the defenders on the city wall did not dare to stay there any longer, and they all hid in the stairs behind the city wall.

Zhang Liang led the Second Brigade's Xianzhen Camp to take advantage of the opportunity to attack the city in an ant-like manner and successfully climbed the city wall from the southwest corner.

On the other side, Qin Zhao also brought several heavy artillery to bombard the city gate. The city wall and the city gate were lost at the same time. Chang Yuchun led his 13th Regiment and rushed into the city. With the help of spies in the city, the Shengwu Army quickly occupied the entire Zhenjiang City, and Fan Shizhong was captured alive.

On the first day of October, the entire Zhenjiang Road was conquered. Yang Jing did not even enter the city. He left Chang Yuchun's 13th Regiment to defend the city and immediately led a large force to Jurong to meet up with Lu Jin.

On the third day of October, Yang Jing led his army to Jurong. The two armies joined forces and pressed towards Jiankang City together!
(End of this chapter)