Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 315: Horses Trampling the Camps
The first target of the Jiangbei Campaign was Tianchang County. In fact, Sun Deya and Yu Shiliang had already received the ultimatum from the Yuan court and learned that Tuotuo was about to head south.

The location of Tianchang County is very clever. One hundred miles to the northeast is Gaoyou Prefecture, one hundred and twenty miles to the northwest is Xuyi under the rule of Zhima Li, one hundred and thirty miles to the southwest is Lai'an under the rule of Shengwu Army, and one hundred and twenty miles to the southeast is Yangzhou Prefecture under the rule of Yuan court. Tianchang is located at the junction of Zhima Li, Shengwu Army, and Yuan court.

Although it cannot be said to be a lawless area, Tianchang County is still relatively well-informed. They can receive news from all directions. In addition to the ultimatum from the Yuan court, they also learned from Yangzhou that the Shengwu Army had crossed the river and captured Zhenjiang on the opposite side of Yangzhou.

The cross-river transportation from Zhenjiang to Yangzhou was directly cut off by Lu Jin. This news could not be concealed anyway, so it was normal for them to find out about it.

Inside the government office in Tianchang County, Sun Deya was drinking and listening to music. At this moment, Sun Deya's top general Liu Minhua hurried over.

Seeing this, Sun Deya immediately asked, "How is it?"

Liu Minhua quickly introduced the situation he had inquired about, "The spies who came back from Yangzhou said that Lu Jin had already conquered Jiankang, Jiqing Road, Zhenjiang Road, and Taiping Road. It is said that after crossing the river, he recruited a large number of surrendered soldiers and recruited soldiers in Jiangnan. The Shengwu Army has 100,000 or 200,000 troops in Jiangnan alone. Now the imperial guards of the Yuan Dynasty emperor are coming from the north. Marshal, what should we do now?"

Sun Deya took a sip from the long-necked wine flask and said indifferently, "So what? We have tens of thousands of defenders, and the city is like an iron barrel. When the Lu family attacked Dingyuan, they also used spies to deceive the city and colluded with the county magistrate in advance, so they easily took Dingyuan. If you ask me, if they really attack the city with swords and guns, they may not be able to fight well. Don't be afraid."

However, Liu Minhua clearly said that there were Yuan army in the north and Shengwu army in the south, but Sun Deya kept talking about the Shengwu army. It was obvious that compared with the Yuan army, he was more afraid of the Shengwu army, or he thought that the Shengwu army was the real enemy. But it was not surprising, after all, the two families had a feud before.

Liu Minhua frowned when he heard this, and hesitated to speak, but finally spoke.

"But the current Shengwu Army is different from the one that attacked Dingyuan last year. They have more soldiers and generals. If they really send tens of thousands of troops to attack us, we won't be able to defend. Otherwise, otherwise."

Before Liu Minhua could finish his words, Sun Deya smashed his wine glass to the ground and warned him, "Don't mention surrendering to Zhima Li again. Didn't you say that the Yuan emperor's imperial guards are coming? If we surrender now, wouldn't that be throwing ourselves into the hands of a gun?
"Zhima Li and his men have been operating for a long time. Even if we surrender, there is no place for us. We may even be coaxed into being a human shield and be the first to die under the swords of the Yuan army."

Liu Minhua was silent for a while after hearing this. He admitted that what Sun Deya said made some sense, but in the final analysis, it was Sun Deya's ambition that was at work. He just didn't want to be controlled by people like Zhima Li and Zhao Junyong.

After a while, he suggested, "General, why don't we invite General Yu back? He has 6,000 soldiers. Together with our 10,000 troops, we can recruit some from the city at the critical moment. Maybe we can get 20,000 troops. This is safer than defending the city by ourselves. Whether it's the Yuan army in the north or the Lu Jin in the south, we can deal with it easily."

Sun Deya slammed the table impatiently upon hearing this, "You know nothing. You called them all over to defend the city. Do you have that much food? It's not the case that the more people there are, the better it is to defend the city. Tianchang County is not big to begin with. Having more people is not only useless, but it will also consume more food, and the city will not be able to hold out for long.

"And that guy Yu Shiliang is as timid as a mouse. If he hadn't been timid and delayed when he started the rebellion, if he had started the rebellion half a month earlier, how could he have ended up like this today? You also invited him into the city. Isn't that deliberately confusing the morale of the army? Who knows, at the critical moment, he might have to open the city and surrender, and sell us all out!

"I'm going to say this today. I'd rather surrender to the government than to the Shengwu Army. If the government wants to recruit us, they should at least give us a Marshal of the Volunteer Army or a commander of a thousand households, or even a high-ranking official like a envoy. But if we are sold to Lu Jin by Yu Shiliang, we will have no way out. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand."

Liu Minhua immediately clasped his fists and stepped back without saying anything more, but he himself was very confused and didn't know what to do.

Deep down, when he followed Sun Deya to start the rebellion, he was naturally full of passion and ambition. Seeing the Yuan court behaving in such an inhumane manner, it was only human nature for him to feel like resisting. In addition, he simply believed that Chinese and barbarians did not share the same values, so as a Han Chinese, driving out the Tartars and restoring the Han country was what he should do.

If we have to talk about some selfish motives, of course there were some. Seeing that Liu Futong had started a rebellion and caused such a big commotion, Liu Minhua might have planned to take advantage of the chaotic times to do something to bring honor to his family. Even if he didn't want to become king, it might not be impossible for him to gain the merit of following the emperor and be granted a title of nobility or a general, right?

However, he never thought of surrendering to the Yuan army! If he really wanted to surrender to the Yuan court, why did he risk the death of his entire clan and rebel?
But he was indeed confused again. His general Sun Deya, who had led him to start the rebellion, actually expressed his intention to surrender to the Yuan army. What should Liu Minhua do then? Should he also surrender to the Yuan army and accept the amnesty?

But if he didn't surrender, where could he go? Surrender to the Shengwu Army? Would that General Lu let him go? Go to Sesame Li? As far as the current situation was concerned, Xuzhou was probably in danger. He couldn't think of a way out, so he was inevitably confused.

However, Liu Minhua did not need to be confused for long. Lai'an was only 130 miles away from Tianchang. With Zhu Liangzu's main force marching 50 miles a day, he could reach the city in three days at most. By then, he would not have to think of a way out.
Compared with Zhu Liangzu's main infantry, the cavalry led by Zheng Yong was obviously faster. From Lai'an to Shiliang Station where Yu Shiliang was stationed, the total distance was only about 110 miles. On the first day, Zheng Yong led his troops to gallop 30 miles to the camp, and at this time they were still nearly miles away from Yu Shiliang's camp.

Zheng Yong did not rush forward mindlessly, but hid and rested thirty miles away. At the same time, he sent out a small group of scouts in disguise to conduct close reconnaissance.

They set out from Lai'an on the morning of October 30th, and arrived miles away from Shiliang Station at night. While setting up camp, they sent out scouts for reconnaissance. At noon on the next day, the th, a scout came back to report.

The scouts were led by Zheng Yong's old subordinate Zhang Huzi himself. When this guy first joined the army, the first thing he did was to lure Zuo Junbi into Lu Jin's ambush circle. He was a very smart guy.

As soon as he came back, he was stopped by Zheng Yong, "What's the situation?"

Zhang Huzi said hurriedly, "I led a platoon to scout, but didn't dare to approach directly on horseback. I dismounted and walked to the woods about seven or eight miles away. At about midnight, I sneaked outside the village and took a look. Shiliang Station was a town with many people living there. Yu Shiliang's military camp was five miles west of the town.

"The military camp is isolated on all sides and has no strategic location. There is only a dry ditch on the south side. The slope is not too steep and there is no water in it. Our cavalry can bypass the camp.

"The military camp has wooden walls and trenches, arrow towers and watchtowers inside, and a deer fort at the gate. There is no suspension bridge. Most of the soldiers on guard are dozing off in the watchtower, and there are no patrol soldiers. I personally squatted outside the military camp for an hour and left when it was almost dawn. There were no military dogs on guard inside, so the defense was not very strict."

Zhang Huzi couldn't help but complain when he said this, "I think Yu Shiliang is a complete idiot in commanding troops. There are only visible posts, no secret sentries, no mobile sentries, and no patrol dogs. The defenses are so lax that anyone can definitely succeed in a night attack."

Zheng Yong frowned upon hearing this and asked, "You mean a night attack?"

Zhang Huzi immediately said, "It's not impossible to attack at night. It will be easy to capture the military camp outside, but we have to pay attention to the inside of the camp.

"After daybreak today, I took a few people to the town, disguised as hunters and woodcutters, to gather information. The townspeople were neither disgusted nor happy with Yu Shiliang. We even saw soldiers from the village running to the town to buy things, which shows that their defenses were lax.

"I was afraid of alerting the enemy, so I didn't dare to arrest the soldiers who were buying things. Instead, I arrested a peddler who was familiar with the surrounding environment and asked him for some information. The peddler said that the village was originally the residence of a man named Gao, who was not a good person. After Yu Shiliang and Sun Deya arrived, they killed Gao and occupied his house.

"Later, the two men thought that the place was good. It was not too far from the town, which was convenient for purchasing military supplies. There was also a dry ditch and a forest not far to the south, which was convenient for collecting firewood and defense, so they set up camp there.

"Speaking of which, this military camp has been here for more than half a year. They captured Tianchang County at the end of the leap month. At first, both of them went to the city, leaving only a few hundred people in the camp. It was almost deserted until three months later, in June or July, when Yu Shiliang returned with several thousand soldiers.

"The peddler said he had been into the village with someone, but he didn't dare to wander around, so he couldn't draw a rough map. He only said that the original Gao Yuanwai's mansion was in the center of the camp. The walls were demolished, and a new stage was built. Yu Shiliang himself usually lived in the mansion.

"If we attack at night, the military camp outside will be easy to break, but we have to be careful of the house in the middle. If we fail to break through quickly and the other soldiers in the camp have time to react, our cavalry will be surrounded by the infantry in the camp and lose mobility." Zheng Yong said immediately after hearing this, "This is easy to deal with. It's just a landlord's house. Send a company of soldiers to dismount and fight on foot. Each of them carries a grenade. Are you afraid that we can't take down an ordinary house?"

Zhou Dexing, who had been silent, suddenly said excitedly, "Commander, let me go."

Zheng Yong thought about it and nodded, saying, "Although Yu Shiliang is just an ordinary bandit general and not a high-ranking official of the Yuan Dynasty, Xiao Zhou, you are new here and have not shown any skills yet. You should go this time, so that you can save face in front of the Marshal."

"Thank you for your guidance!" Zhou Dexing immediately bowed happily and accepted the order.

Zheng Yong saw this and immediately made arrangements, "Okay, assign the tasks. The Marshal needs to hurry. We can't delay for too long. Besides, we are too close to the enemy here. If we delay for too long, we will be easily exposed. So we should act tonight.

"Huzi, you are familiar with the road. Leave a few people to lead the way for us. We will wait until dark before starting to march to Shiliang Station. When we are seven or eight miles away, we will dismount and march on foot to avoid being discovered by the enemy. We will start the attack at three o'clock in the morning when the enemy is in the most troubled state.

“When the time comes, Huzi, you will lead a company of archers and quietly approach the enemy camp. Use bows and arrows to silently eliminate those sentries, open the gate, and then raise three torches as a signal. We will ride into the camp on horseback. I will lead the main force to control the various parts of the camp, Huzi will lead people to detain the prisoners, and Zhou Dexing, you will be responsible for dealing with the house in the middle.

"It's noon now. Let's prepare torches first, then have a meal and rest early. We will set out as soon as it gets dark. Huzi, you lead the troops first. Be careful not to be discovered by the enemy and hide your body well."

"Yes!" The two immediately accepted the order and began to prepare themselves.

October was already late autumn, and it got dark very early at night, around 7:00 p.m., when the sky was completely dark. Moreover, there was a lack of lighting at night, and the nights outdoors were even darker. The twelfth day was near the middle of the month, but the moon was not very bright.

At half past seven, Zheng Yong woke up all the soldiers, asked them to exercise, warm themselves by the fire, eat something, and check on the horses. They did not officially set out until nine o'clock in the evening.

In order to avoid making too much noise, Zheng Yong kept the cavalry's speed down and did not dare let everyone run. Instead, he rode at a quick trot. It only took more than an hour, and at around ten o'clock in the evening, they arrived eight miles away from Yu Shiliang's camp. The people arranged by Zhang Huzi had already been waiting here with lanterns.

So everyone dismounted here, led the horses and walked a distance of four or five miles, and finally arrived outside Yu Shiliang's camp at midnight. Zhang Huzi hurried over to meet Zheng Yong.

Seeing this, Zheng Yong asked, "Are you all ready?"

Zhang Huzi shook off the black robe on his body and nodded, "It's been prepared for a long time. White armor is too conspicuous at night. I selected 200 people to wear black robes. They are all excellent eyesight and archery experts. When are we going to check the sentry?"

Zheng Yong said quickly, "We have walked for several miles. Let them rest first and wait for an hour before we start. Xiao Zhou, you lead the troops to rest here first. I will go around the enemy camp myself."

"Yes!"

After Zheng Yong made all the arrangements, he, under the leadership of Zhang Huzi, made a circle in the dark night and determined the scale of the camp.

Although this camp only housed 6,000 people, it was built when Sun Deya and Yu Shiliang were stationed there together. It could accommodate more than 10,000 people and there was also a training ground for soldiers. The area it covered was definitely not small, as big as a primary school.

After the on-site inspection was completed and it was confirmed that the horses could run inside, Zheng Yong returned to the main force and made arrangements, "Let's start the operation. Huzi, go check the sentry. Once the signal is given, we will lead the troops to charge in."

"okay."

Zhang Huzi had been waiting for a long time. After receiving the order, he waved his hand and immediately two hundred archers in black robes came forward quietly.

Yu Shiliang even thoughtfully hung lanterns at the gate of the village, so it was easy to see the sentries in the watchtowers on both sides. There were six archers aiming at each tower at the same time. Someone in one of the watchtowers was yawning and circling, and the sentry in the opposite watchtower was leaning against the pillar and snoring softly.

The squad leader who was checking the sentry nodded immediately, and the twelve people around him quietly approached, aimed at the sentry on the watchtower, drew their bows and drew their arrows. With a few bangs, the bowstrings vibrated, and the two sentries on the watchtower were hit by several arrows and fell down limply.

The same was true for the other watchtowers around the village wall. Each post was manned by several people. After a while, all the sentries on the watchtowers in front of the camp were cleared out.

Zhang Huzi hurriedly led his men forward, moved away the barricades and other items in front of the camp gate, and had people use human ladders to climb into the camp. He quietly opened the gate from the inside and checked that there was no obstruction. He immediately took out a fire starter from his waist, blew it up and lit three torches, then held up the torches and waved them in front of the camp gate.

Zheng Yong and others had been waiting for a long time. Seeing this, they also lit torches. The torches were passed from one to another, and soon a long string of fire dragons were lit.

"rush!"

With just one simple word, the soldiers of the three battalions of the Second Cavalry Regiment no longer cared about being exposed and rushed into the camp on horseback. More than 2,000 cavalrymen rushed into the camp and wandered around. When they saw a house, they threw a torch in front of it to illuminate it. If it was a barracks, they would directly order people to block the barracks and shout to the people inside to come out and lay down their arms and surrender.

There was a sudden chaos in the camp. Many soldiers rushed out of the rooms in dishevel. Without even finding their weapons, they were shot to death by the fully armed soldiers of the Shengwu Army standing at the door.

"We won't kill you if you surrender, but if you dare to resist us with weapons, we will block your door and burn your house!"

Upon hearing this, the other soldiers in the house did not dare to resist. Most of the barracks they lived in were built with wood, which could catch fire at any time. If the houses really caught fire, they would all be burned to death. Even if there were some adobe houses, the roofs were mostly made of thatch, which could also catch fire at any time.

Someone was blocked in the house and said angrily, "May I ask who the heroes outside the door are, or are they government troops? Even if you surrender, you have to let us know who you are surrendering to?"

The soldiers outside the door immediately answered, "Luzhou Shengwu Army!"

Unexpectedly, the people inside were not afraid when they heard this, but became even more angry. "The Shengwu Army is a righteous army against the Yuan Dynasty? If it is a righteous army against the Yuan Dynasty, then we are also a righteous army. Why don't you go to cause trouble for the Yuan army? Why do you rob my camp in the middle of the night?"

The soldier outside the door was stunned for a moment and asked, "Who are you?"

"I am Zhao Que, a captain under General Yu!"

(End of this chapter)