Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 307: The Power of Changshengtian
"Captain Pi, turn right at the street ahead and you'll find the government office."

The guide led the way. After hearing the instructions, Pi Yun, the captain of the 1st Company of the 2nd Musket Battalion of the 1st Brigade of the Imperial Guard, immediately waved his hand and shouted to the soldiers behind him, "Hurry, follow me, take down the government office as soon as possible, and then attack the west gate."

Upon hearing this, the soldiers immediately accelerated and rushed over.

Jiankang was the capital of Jiqing Road in the Yuan Dynasty. There were many government offices in the city, and they were all located in the center of the city, which was right in the attack area of ​​the Imperial Guard.

Because this was once the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Secretariat and the Six Ministries of the Southern Tang Dynasty were all here, and there were a large number of office offices in the city center.

In addition, during the Early Song Dynasty, Zhao Gou went south and wanted to establish his capital in Jiankang. He also had these government offices renovated, so the Yuan Dynasty preserved them.

As for why Zhao Gou later ran to Hangzhou, there are two main reasons. One is that Hangzhou is close to Hangzhou Bay, making it convenient to escape by ship.

If you have studied the map of the Southern Song Dynasty Hangzhou Lin'an Palace, you will understand that Zhao Gou's palace in Hangzhou was really facing the sea, with flowers blooming in the spring. Less than one kilometer outside the palace gate was the harbor, and you could get water directly on the boat. It was so convenient.
There is another reason. Zhao Gou did want to establish his capital in Jiankang, but at that time Jiankang City was severely flooded. During the rainy season, the city turned into a swamp, a real "water town in the south of the Yangtze River".

During the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi once governed Jiankang. This leader of the reform faction had good ideas at first, but he did things without considering the consequences, and often ended up doing good things with bad intentions. This was also the case when Wang Anshi was an official in Jiankang.

In order to increase the farmland area in Jiankang, he had Xuanwu Lake filled up and converted into paddy fields. This move did increase the land output and grain, but the side effect was that Jiankang City had nowhere to discharge floodwaters during the rainy season, resulting in flooding every year.

It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that the Yuan government dug out Xuanwu Lake, which completely solved the problem of waterlogging in the city.

When Zhao Gou went south, he saw the situation in Jiankang and decisively gave up the idea of ​​building the capital there and fled to Hangzhou.
"Captain Pi, there is a building on the roadside ahead." The guide reminded again as everyone was running forward.

Upon hearing this, Pi Yun immediately said, "Be careful of the high ground on the roadside and be alert to the enemy archers!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers turned the corner, raised their muskets and aimed at the buildings on both sides.

The people upstairs were originally peeking out to watch the battle, but when they saw the Shengwu Army pointing their guns at them, they were so scared that they retreated back into their houses.

"Close the door, close the door, hold on quickly, the enemy soldiers are few in number, we just need to hold on for a while, and Lord Pingzhang will bring troops to support us, hold on quickly!"

The soldiers of the first company were still running a little slow. Just as the army arrived at the government office, they heard the sound of a door closing, and the voices of the Yuan army shouting and the sound of the door being bolted came from inside.

The scout in front immediately reported, "Captain, there are people inside the government office. They have bolted the door and said they will defend it to the death."

Upon hearing this, Pi Yun immediately said, "Pull up the cannon!"

Then he led his troops to the gate of the government office and shouted, "Listen, everyone inside, open the door and surrender quickly, and I will spare your lives. Otherwise, I will rush in and kill everyone!"

There was no movement inside. After a few seconds, a Yuan soldier stuck his head out from the nearby courtyard wall and looked out. As a result, there was a bang of a gunshot outside, and the Yuan soldier fell down with his head raised on the spot, scaring the other Yuan soldiers inside to tremble in fear.

"The guns are coming."

"Reload, aim at the gate!"

In order to keep up with the main attacking force when entering the city and maintain flexibility, the artillery crew did not even bring an ammunition truck. Instead, they found a bunch of bamboo baskets and backpacks and let the soldiers carry them themselves. Forty or fifty people each carried a round of ammunition. In this way, ammunition could be delivered to any place where people could enter.

When the artillery crew heard Pi Yun's order, they immediately found a shotgun shell from the backpack and started loading.

Pi Yun issued an ultimatum, "Open the door and surrender quickly, or I will fire!"

The Yuan army and officials inside probably didn't know what a cannon was. Not only did they not take it seriously, some even shouted, "Listen, you thieves outside the city. If you surrender now, the court can still pardon your death penalty. Surrender quickly, otherwise Pingzhang will lead his troops to kill you and none of you will survive!"

"Fuck it, you won't cry until you see the coffin, fire!"

With a loud bang, hundreds of grape-sized shotgun shells were sprayed out at a distance of less than ten meters, making the door panels of the government office gate full of holes. The Yuan soldiers who were pushing against the door inside were directly shattered to the ground, and the rest of the Yuan soldiers standing on both sides of the gate were almost scared to death.

A Shengwu Army soldier went forward to check and found that the bolt inside had not been broken. "Captain, the bolt is not broken, it's still holding."

"One more shot! Aim for the bolt."

Upon hearing this, a minor official inside shouted, "Stop fighting, stop fighting, we are opening the door and surrendering."

With a creak, the gate finally opened, and a minor official in black clothes was seen trembling as he stepped on the broken meat on the ground to open the gate. As soon as he opened the door, he saw dozens of yellow-armored soldiers outside, aiming their muskets at the gate, and there was also a cannon on wheels facing the gate. He was so scared that he quickly raised his hands.

Seeing this, Pi Yun immediately ordered, "One platoon will enter the government office, wipe out the remaining enemies, capture prisoners, control the books and accounts, and lock up all the living people in a yard. If anyone dares to cause trouble, kill them all. Send people to guard the intersections on all sides, and leave a few more grenades for you.

"Second, third, and fourth platoons follow me and continue to attack westward. The guide leads the way!"

"Yes!"

After Pi Yun finished speaking, he didn't even enter the government office. After arranging the tasks, he left with the remaining soldiers.

Over there at Xuanwu Gate in the north city.

Dong Xingyao's newly formed 37th Regiment also entered the city. His battalion officer Chen Hao was not very courageous at first and did not dare to fight with the Yuan army. But after entering the city, he encountered a group of Yuan army. As soon as the cannons opened fire, the Yuan army was immediately killed and wounded everywhere, and the rest of the people immediately fled.

Chen Hao didn't dare to fight in an unfavorable situation, but now that the Yuan army was defeated, he didn't mind fighting a favorable battle and taking advantage of it. With cannons and musketeers in the front, his battalion also bravely pursued the defeated Yuan army, and became more and more courageous as the battle went on.

Even the timid Chen Hao was like this, let alone Wu Shutong and Lu Haian, especially Lu Haian, who was a martial arts fanatic and didn't care much about politics. Now that they had joined the Shengwu Army and General Lu dared to use them and allocated the same armor and weapons as the main force, and treated them no differently, what else could he say? He naturally started to work hard to kill the Yuan army.

As they were attacking forward, a group of Yuan army archers blocked their way. Zhang Zhen from the chariot battalion of the 1st Brigade of the Imperial Guard immediately led the musketeers forward, and a round of volleys of fire defeated the Yuan army blocking the road. The army immediately continued to advance forward.

Wu Shutong also captured a group of Yuan soldiers. Led by a guide, they divided their forces to encircle the enemy from both sides and blocked hundreds of Yuan soldiers at an intersection. There was even a captain of the Yuan army shouting loudly inside.

"Don't believe their lies. Surrender means death. Follow me to break out. Kill the enemy generals and you will be rewarded handsomely!"

Upon hearing this, Guan Liang, the training officer of Wu Shutong's battalion, immediately shouted to the Yuan army in the encirclement.

"If you surrender, you will not be killed. If you do not surrender, you will die immediately. We are all Han brothers. Don't work for the Tartars anymore. As long as you surrender, General Lu will waive the usury for you. If you don't have land at home, you will get land. Hurry up and save your life and go home to get the land. If you die, your wives and children will be sold as slaves by the Tartars!"

The Yuan army soldiers in the encirclement looked at each other in bewilderment. Only the centurion was still shouting anxiously, "Don't listen to their nonsense, they are all lying to you. There is no such good thing in the world. Follow me and kill. As long as you kill the enemy generals, you will have endless silver!"

"Damn it." Guan Liang got angry when he heard this, and immediately jumped up and shouted, "Where's the grenade? Blow that guy to death!"

Immediately, a musketeer from the car camp lit a grenade and threw it into the crowd of Yuan soldiers. The next moment, there was a loud bang, and the centurion and several people around him were blown to the ground. Wu Shutong took advantage of the moment when the Yuan soldiers were stunned by the explosion and shouted again, "Surrender and you won't be killed!"

There was a loud clatter of swords and guns falling to the ground, and the remaining Yuan army surrendered immediately. The centurion officer who was injured by the explosion was also killed by his own men.

Wu Shutong exclaimed, "This grenade is really useful. After the war, let the commander-in-chief give some to our 37th Regiment. Don't show favoritism just because we are new here."

The training officer Guan Liang said immediately, "This thing is produced in small quantities, and we won't use it until a war breaks out. We can't waste it. And it's not that the commander-in-chief favors one over the other. The 37th Regiment is a new regiment and has not been trained in dropping bombs. Most of the soldiers don't know how to use this thing. If we give it out randomly, they might even blow up their own people. Let's wait until we have unified training after the war."

"Well, what Instructor Guan said makes sense. Someone come and watch over the prisoners, and the rest of you continue to attack southward!"

On the south gate side, Zhang Desheng led the 17th Regiment to attack Zhenhuai Bridge. Jia Boying, the battalion officer of the second battalion of the 17th Regiment, captured a group of Yuan army prisoners. He learned from the prisoners that someone saw Pingzhang Wanzhebuhua running away from the west gate. Jia Boying immediately rushed to find Zhang Desheng to report.

"Commander, a prisoner said he saw Wanzhebuhua running away from the west gate. What should we do?"

Zhang Desheng didn't care at all and said, "It's okay. Commander Ye's cavalry regiment is watching outside. He can't run away."

When Jia Boying heard this, he sighed, "Alas, the cavalry regiment got away with it."

Zhang Desheng immediately got angry when he heard this and cursed, "What do you mean by cheap cavalry regiment? They are our friendly forces. Without cavalry scouts, can you fight with just your infantry?"

Jia Boying curled his lips, and Zhang Desheng continued. "Commander Ye was the first general to submit to our Shengwu Army. He surrendered to the commander long before we conquered Luzhou. Since joining the army, he has worked hard and never complained. In the previous battle of Xiaomaoshan, the casualties of the entire infantry of the army were not as heavy as those of the cavalry. Did you hear Commander Ye complain? They didn't say anything, and you still have the nerve to steal the credit from the cavalry?

"Even if the cavalry doesn't catch him, can you catch him just by your two legs?"

Jia Boying was scolded so much that he immediately begged for mercy, "Stop scolding me, I know I was wrong. Commander, please take a breath and rest. I will lead the second battalion as the vanguard to clear the way for our regiment."

After saying this, he didn't wait for Zhang Desheng to reply and immediately ran to the front.

Zhang Desheng saw this and immediately shouted from behind, "You are running so fast, hurry up and join the Imperial Guard Brigade, then we will turn around and fight west, surround the Yuan army and persuade them to surrender."

"Got it, follow me, second battalion!" Jia Boying replied from a distance ahead, and soon disappeared into the street ahead.
Because Jiankang City was too large and the Shengwu Army's main attacking force was not large, the battle lasted from nine in the morning until about three in the afternoon before the Yuan army in Jiankang City was completely wiped out.

Bo Jianu, the provincial councilor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Danidasi, the darughachi of Jiqing Road, both refused to surrender and died in battle, but were both ridiculed by the musketeers.

Wanzhebuhua, the second minister of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province, tried to escape from the west gate but was caught on the spot by Shen Ren of the Second Battalion of the First Cavalry Regiment and captured alive.

During this siege, the Shengwu Army captured more than 30,000 prisoners and killed about 3,000 to 4,000 Yuan soldiers in battle. The Shengwu Army itself lost about two companies, so the total casualties should be around 400. The specific losses and results have not yet been counted.

At 3 p.m., a messenger came from the city to report that everything in the city had been pacified. Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong immediately said excitedly, "General, shall we enter the city?"

Lu Jin nodded, looking at the more than 50,000 prisoners outside the city. This time, more than 30,000 were captured in Jiankang City. Not counting the existing establishment, this is nearly 90,000 more soldiers. Ten regiments only have 45,000 people. With these 90,000 prisoners, they can expand to 20 regiments. Now Yang Jing's East China Front Army does not have to worry about its manpower.
"Pass on my military order!" Lu Jin immediately ordered the messenger who came running over.

"All the prisoners were taken outside the city. Yu Tonghai's 37th Regiment guarded the South City, Yang Jing's 17th Regiment guarded the North City, Dong Xingyao's th Regiment guarded the West City, the nd Brigade of the Imperial Guard guarded the East City, Zhang Desheng's th Regiment maintained the city's law and order, and the st Brigade of the Imperial Guard and the Cavalry Regiment camped outside the South City to guard the prisoners.

"The artillery battalion dismantled all the artillery positions and filled them back with rammed earth. After the artillery battalion assembled, they found their own troops to return to their bases and asked the Logistics Department to replenish ammunition for the artillery battalion and the Guards Brigade.

"In addition, Jiqing Road will be renamed Shuntian Prefecture from now on, and the Marshal's Office of the Holy Martial Army will be moved to Shuntian Prefecture City. A notice will be posted to pacify the people and recruit wise officials and brave warriors."

Li Shanchang was stunned when he heard this and asked, "Isn't it called Yingtian Prefecture?"

Lu Jin shook his head. "There is already a Yingtian Prefecture in Henan. Let's not join in the fun. Besides, we are Shuntian Prefecture because we are following the will of heaven and the people. That's why we started the rebellion against the Yuan Dynasty. So we call ourselves Shuntian Prefecture."

"That's good too." Li Shanchang expressed his approval.

On the sixth day of October in the twelfth year of Zhizheng in 1352 AD, Jiankang City was captured!
Since crossing the river on the Double Ninth Festival on September 26th, the Shengwu Army recaptured Jiankang on October 18th. They fought four major battles with more than soldiers, lasting a total of days, captured seven cities (not counting the Caishiji port), annihilated Yuan troops in Taiping Road, captured Nahachu alive, and annihilated more than Yuan troops in Jiqing Road, for a total of enemy troops.

The Grand Chancellor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province, Yuelu Temur, was captured alive, and the second Chancellor, Wanzhebuhua, was captured alive. The Vice Chancellor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province, Baoqi and Bo Jianu, the militia marshals Chen Yexian and Chen Zhaoxian, father and son, and the Darughachi of Jiqing Road, Danidas, were also captured.

The Shengwu Army itself lost about one battalion, less than a thousand people, and expanded its army to fifteen regiments. There were still 90,000 prisoners who had not yet been reorganized, which was an impressive record that was enough to shock Kyushu, but the news has not yet spread.

The other forces around them currently know that Lu Jin led the Shengwu Army across the river, but they don't know their achievements after crossing the river.
Lu Jin led the civil servants of the Marshal's Mansion into the city. Zhu Shou and Zhang Wen immediately ran over to report, "Marshal, there is a Prince Huai's Mansion in the city. I heard that it was where the Tartar Emperor Wenzong lived before. Not long after he lived there, he went to Dadu to become the emperor. Do you want to let the Marshal stay in this palace?"

Zhang Wen made crazy hints, but what he said was true. Emperor Wenzong of Yuan Dynasty, Toghon Temur, was first enfeoffed on Hainan Island, and later moved to Jiankang and named King Huai. Later, Yan Temur poisoned Emperor Taiding, and brought King Huai, Toghon Temur, to Dadu, made him emperor, and then launched the War of the Two Capitals. That was more than 20 years ago.

It was for this reason that Toghon Temur changed the name of Jiankang to Jiqing Road. Being named King Huai was one kind of joy, and going to Dadu to ascend the throne and become emperor was a second kind of joy, so he changed the name of Jiankang Road to... ahem, Jiqing Road.

However, the place name Chongqing in Sichuan has a similar origin to Jiqing Road. Anyway, they both mean the same thing. There is another similar place name in later generations, which was renamed Daqing because of the discovery of oil.
Lu Jin did not refuse this time. He nodded and said, "Okay, have someone clean up Prince Huai's mansion and come back to pick up Yunxiu and Tan'er and move them in."

Zhang Wen smiled immediately when he heard this. It seemed that Lu Jin understood what he meant.

When Luzhou was conquered, two royal palaces were confiscated. However, Lu Jin refused to live in the palaces at that time and insisted on living in the government office. On the one hand, he was setting a goal, not only for himself, but also for the generals in Chaohu, so that they would not be so short-sighted. He also warned the generals not to forget their original intentions and not to start enjoying themselves as soon as they conquered one or two cities. We have to continue to conquer the world in the future. The future territory is huge, and Luzhou city is just a small part of it.

The second is to keep a low profile and thoroughly implement the nine-character policy of building high walls, storing up grain, and slowly claiming the throne. He was determined not to live in the palace, but to stay there and focus on developing the base first.

But the current Shengwu Army is no longer what it used to be when it was just established last year. This time when it crossed the river, it expanded by 15 regiments in the south of the Yangtze River alone, and will soon expand by another 20 regiments. It will even establish a field army. It has grown to such a scale that even if he wants to continue to develop in a low-key manner, he may not be able to hide it.

However, he is not considering becoming king for the time being. At the very least, he needs to conquer Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, and have an army of hundreds of thousands, before he will have the confidence to become king.

Lu Jin did not go to the palace first, but asked Zhang Desheng to take people to check the Prince Huai's palace, find someone to clean it up, and send soldiers to garrison it. He himself took the civil officials and military generals to the government office on Jiqing Road to see where the various agencies of the Marshal's Mansion would be located in the future.

In addition, Zhang Desheng was ordered to seal up all the residences of Wanzhebuhua and others, confiscate their properties, and distribute the houses to civil and military officials for living.

Ji Xuan, the intelligence chief of Jiangning Station, was officially appointed as the prefect of Shuntian by Lu Jin. The first thing he did after taking office was to post notices to pacify the people and then find houses for the officials of the Marshal's Mansion to live in.
When the group arrived at the government office, Zhang Wen asked again, "General, when are we going to bring the family members from Luzhou over here?"

Lu Jin led them across the threshold, pointed at the bloodstains on the ground and the gate that was beaten into a sieve at the entrance of the government office, and said, "Clean up first, there's blood everywhere, don't scare the women and children, and bring them over a few days later. Anyway, everyone needs to move in before the end of October."

"That's fine." Zhang Wen thought so too. The ground was covered with blood, and his shoes would get sticky when he walked. His wife was pregnant, so he didn't want to scare the woman and the child. Lu Jin's child was too young now, just two months old, so he had to be looked after carefully.

After entering the government office, Lu Jin went to the front yard and the second yard to take a look, and then said, "You should arrange the city defense and camp first, and don't harass the people. After you have made arrangements, come to the government office to meet with me. We need to continue to expand the army. The two imperial guard brigades will be expanded into imperial guard divisions. You go and make arrangements."

"Yes!" Zhu Shou and Zhang Wen agreed and immediately went to arrange their respective military affairs.

Lu Jin called the messenger again and asked him to call Yu Tongyuan who was still patrolling on the river, and also asked someone to ask where Zhu Liangzu and Liao Yongzhong were. Lu Jin asked them to come to him to report and discuss things two days ago, so why haven't they arrived yet?

It was not until the evening of that day that Zhu Liangzu and Liao Yongan finally arrived. They crossed the river and rushed over. When they saw that Jiankang Road had been occupied by the Shengwu Army, they were both delighted. It seemed that after Lu Jin led the 37th Army across the river, the battle was going very smoothly.

When the two of them arrived at the government office and saw Lu Jin, they immediately bowed and said, "Greetings, Marshal!"

"We are all brothers, why are you being so polite? Hurry up, someone, move the chairs, serve tea, you have no sense at all."

After the two men sat down, Zhu Liangzu immediately took out a letter, handed it to Lu Jin and said, "Marshal, would you like to take a look at this first?"

Lu Jin took it curiously and asked, "What is this?"

Zhu Liangzu immediately said, "This was sent by Xuzhou Zhima Li when he was trading with us. It is the imperial edict from the Yuan court in Dadu. It is the ultimatum given to us by the Tartar emperor."

Lu Jin opened it and saw the words written on it: "Changsheng Tianli Li (Fengtian), Dafu Yin Huzhu Li (Chengyun): All the people who have gathered in Xuzhou and other places, as well as Luzhou and Taiping, will be pardoned within 20 days, regardless of whether they are leaders or followers. I decree this."

Lu Jin flipped through the pages and saw that there was nothing at the back. He couldn't help but complain, "That's it? I don't need his pardon. If he has the guts, come and kill me! If he doesn't come and kill me, sooner or later I will go north to capture him."

“Hahahahahahaha————” Zhu Liangzu and Liao Yongzhong burst into laughter upon hearing this.

Lu Jin put the paper on the table and pointed with his finger, "Why did Xuzhou Zhima Li send you this thing? Did he know that I led the troops across the river?"

"Yes, they know." Zhu Liangzu nodded and explained.

"Since we started trading with Xuzhou in June, we have already traded four times by the end of September, with 2,000 sets of armor each time. We have sold him 8,000 sets so far, and the transaction will be completed in one month.

"Zhima Li and Zhao Junyong have been wondering why we were so generous and sold them armor. They suspected we had some ulterior motive. Now that the Tartar emperor has issued this imperial edict, they have finally figured it out.

"On September 26, when we had our fourth transaction, the person who came brought this thing to me, and he was also sarcastic to me, saying that you, Marshal, are calculating. You sold the armor to Xuzhou and asked them to block our Shengwu Army in the north, while you secretly crossed the river and entered the south of the Yangtze River.

"I retorted at the time that we were going to use them to ward off disaster, so what could he do? Does he want the armor? If not, we don't want to sell it to him.

"The envoy said that now that the Yuan court has issued an ultimatum, Tuotuo's army will definitely arrive at Xuzhou within half a month. If Xuzhou cannot stop them, our Shengwu Army will have no chance of survival. So they asked us to conduct the fifth transaction in advance and give them the remaining 2,000 sets of armor. In addition, if we have extra armor, they hope we can provide more support.

"The envoys are still waiting in Haozhou. They have also seen Yu Tongyuan's troop movements and know that we have sent reinforcements to the front line of Haozhou. Will you agree to their request, Marshal?"

Lu Jin tapped his fingers on the table and thought for a while before saying, "I can't break my promise once I've said it. The 10,000 sets of armor will be traded in five batches. The fifth batch can be sold to them in advance, but if they don't give me anything and just want me to support them for free, that's impossible. They are not my soldiers, why should I pay out of my own pocket to arm them?

"Tell them that I just conquered Jiankang and expanded the army to 200,000 in Jiangnan. I don't even have enough armor. I want support? I don't have even a single piece of armor! I've already kept my promise by selling the fifth batch of armor to him. Otherwise, if they sell it to someone else, they won't be able to buy another set of armor."

(End of this chapter)