Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 345: The Proclamation to Conquer the Yuan Dynasty and Save the People (I)

Lei Chi Fort in Susong in the south was passively under attack from the Yuan army in Jiangxi, while in the area south of Shuyang north of Huai'an, Zhu Liangzu's 36th Army successfully launched an active defense, luring and annihilating part of Tuotuo's main force.

Since the main force of the 27th Army captured Huai'an on the 36th of last month, Zhu Liangzu immediately ordered people to build a pontoon bridge on the Huai River, making it appear as if they would cross the Yellow River and Huai River and continue to advance northward.

By the 30th, Qinghe County had been captured by Liao Yongzhong and his detachment, and the Jiangbei Campaign was successfully concluded. Zhao Zhongzhong also led his detachment from Yancheng to Huai'an to meet Zhu Liangzu. In four days, a floating bridge on the Huai River was built.

As soon as the first day of winter arrived, Zhu Liangzu immediately sent Zheng Yong's Second Cavalry Regiment to cross the river to the north. Relying on the high mobility of the cavalry, they approached Shuyang with great fanfare and force. At the same time, he ordered Zhao Zhongzhong to lead the main tenth regiment to cross the river, set up a solid camp on the other side of the pontoon bridge, dig trenches, and build warehouses, as if preparing to build a bridgehead to support the army to continue its northward advance.

In fact, Tuotuo had received the news a long time ago, or in other words, he had been receiving battle reports from the front line while he was leading his troops south. Tuotuo was very angry with Lu Jin's Shengwu Army and the Luzhou Red Turbans!
More than a month ago, the court issued a special decree to tell the "crowds" in Xuzhou and Luzhou that as long as they disbanded their teams and returned to their homes, the court would forgive them for their past crimes.

But in the end, not only did these people not listen, they even launched a massive attack on the Yuan court's counties after seeing the imperial edict. Xuzhou was relatively better, as they had been building cities and preparing for war, and there was not much noise. However, battle reports from Yangzhou and Gaoyou in Jiangbei were sent to Tuotuo's camp one after another, all of which were news of the fall of certain cities.

This group of Luzhou Red Turbans were too hateful. Knowing that he had led his troops south, they still launched a large-scale attack on Jiangbei, successively conquering the entire Yangzhou Road, Gaoyou Prefecture, and part of Huai'an Road. They did not stop even after reaching Baoying. Their vanguard had already reached the other side of Xuzhou, but this group of people also captured Huai'an and Qinghe County under his nose and killed several provincial government officials.

It is unbearable! ! !
What's even more outrageous now is that Tuotuo's own central military tent has already arrived at the front line of Xuzhou, but this group of Luzhou Red Turbans are still building a pontoon bridge and want to continue heading north. The cavalry vanguard has even appeared about 150 miles south of Shuyang. They don't take him, the Prime Minister of the Yuan Dynasty, seriously at all.

Tuotuo stationed his horse by the Yellow River (Huai River), looking at Xuzhou on the opposite bank, listening to the scouts' report that the white-armored cavalry of the Shengwu Army had been discovered south of Shuyang. His face was terribly gloomy.

Tai Buhua, the left chancellor of the Jiangbei Province of Henan, knelt on the river bank without saying a word.

His position as the provincial left chancellor is now almost in name only. The Henan Jiangbei Province of the Yuan Dynasty included the entire Henan Province in later generations, most of Anhui, most of Jiangsu, most of Hubei, and even part of Chongqing.

Such a large area is now occupied by Liu Futong in the northwest, occupied by Zhima Li in the middle, occupied by Lu Jin in the southeast, and occupied by Xu Shouhui in the southwest. A group of rebels have almost divided up the Henan Jiangbei Province. What's the point of him being the left chancellor of the province? Oh, by the way, at least the provincial capital of Bianliang is still in the hands of the Yuan court for the time being, and it is unknown when Liu Futong and his men will be able to return to Bianliang.

In just one year, such a situation has been created. It is too much to say a word in front of Tuotuo, the Prime Minister of the Yuan Dynasty, who is second only to the emperor. He can only kneel down and reflect on himself.
At this moment, after listening to the report from the scouts, Taiwei Yue Kuochar immediately said.

"The Luzhou bandits are too arrogant and do not take the imperial decrees and the imperial edict seriously. We should be the first to eliminate them, otherwise other rebels will think that the imperial court is weak and can be bullied, and follow suit.

"Besides, if we ignore them and directly cross the river to attack Xuzhou, the Luzhou bandits may go around us and raid our military supply routes. We must be on guard. Prime Minister, I am willing to lead the troops myself and serve as the vanguard!"

However, Tuotuo did not express his opinion immediately after hearing this. At this time, Xuexue, who was in charge of the Privy Council, also stood up and spoke.

"Prime Minister, the imperial edict has been issued, and it cannot be changed overnight. We should attack Xuzhou first. The imperial edict will be announced to the world and will surely attract everyone's attention. If we ignore Xuzhou and turn around to attack the Luzhou bandits in Huai'an, it will further undermine the majesty of the court and make the Red Turban bandits think that the imperial edict is a joke, saying that we are afraid of Xuzhou and the imperial edict is nothing special. The bandits will definitely become more rampant."

Taiwei Yue Kuochaer frowned and said dissatisfiedly, "What should we do about the Luzhou bandits who are now crossing the river from Huai'an to the north and raiding our army's flank food supply route? Should we just leave them alone?"

Nasuraddin, the military advisor of the Yuan court, also stepped forward and said, "Prime Minister, I also think that we should attack Xuzhou first. Dividing troops to cross a river has always been a taboo in military strategy. You can only choose one place to cross a river, and you must not divide your troops. Otherwise, if the enemy is halfway across the river, we will attack them, and our army will be divided into many routes, and there will be no support.

"As for the bandits in Luzhou south of Shuyang, we can send a small army to wipe out all the bandits who cross the river in Luzhou, teach them a lesson, and then confront them on the north bank of Huai'an, so that they dare not send troops to make peace with Xuzhou. When our main force captures Xuzhou, we can attack Huai'an from both sides of the Huai River, and we will be able to recover Jiangbei in one fell swoop."

Yue Kochar frowned again when he heard this, but did not refute it again. After all, Nasuruddin's proposal took the safety of the flank into consideration and made plans for the future battles. It was acceptable as it was an advance layout.

But he asked again, "If we send a small army to wipe them out, who should lead the army and how many soldiers should they bring?"

Tuotuo, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke, but he asked the scout, "How many soldiers and horses do the bandits who crossed the river in Luzhou have, and how strong are they?"

The scout who came to report immediately said, "Reporting to the Prime Minister, a hundred and fifty miles south of Shuyang, we encountered a group of bandit cavalry, about a thousand or more, all carrying bows and spears, all wearing white dark armor, and advancing towards Shuyang. There are also four to five thousand infantrymen who are setting up camp and building warehouses on the other side of the Huai'an floating bridge to store food and grass. There are many flags on the other side, and the main force of the bandit army seems to be preparing to cross the river."

Upon hearing that the enemy had only about 6,000 soldiers crossing the river, Taiwei Yuekuchar's eldest son Yesu immediately stepped forward and volunteered, "Abu (father), Prime Minister, I am willing to lead 2,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry to fight and wipe out all the bandits crossing the river."

Tuotuo was very pleased to hear this, "The son of the Grand Commandant is determined to serve the country and dares to brave the arrows and stones. Why should we worry that our Yuan Dynasty cannot be revived? Hurry up and obey my orders!"

"I am here!" Yesu immediately knelt down and listened to the order.

Tuotuo then said, "Order Yesu to lead 3,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry to wipe out all the bandits who crossed the river in Luzhou. After the bandits in Huaibei are wiped out, station them north of Huai'an to cover the flank of our main force and wait for orders."

Yesu was a little surprised when he heard this. He didn't understand what Tuotuo meant. He only wanted 7,000 soldiers, but Tuotuo gave him 13,000. Did he think he was incompetent?

Tuotuo seemed to be able to read his mind. He glanced at him and said, "The bandits in Luzhou did not take the imperial edict seriously. They knew that I was leading my army southward, but they still dared to continue their advance. Within a few months, three routes of land were occupied. We must not underestimate the enemy!"

"Yes, I will remember the Prime Minister's instructions." Yesu solemnly agreed, but soon he forgot Tuotuo's instructions.
When Yesu gathered his detachment of troops and rushed to Shuyang, Tuotuo also gave the order on the other side of Xuzhou, "Build a pontoon bridge and cross the river!"

Three days later, on the fourth day of the winter month, when Tuotuo's main Yuan army was fighting back and forth with Zhima Li around the pontoon bridge on the Huai River north of Xuzhou, the detachment led by Yesu and Zheng Yong's second cavalry regiment also encountered each other in the middle area between Shuyang and Suqian. The scouts of both sides discovered each other almost at the same time, and then blew horns to gather their troops.

Yesu's detachment headed straight for Shuyang, but Zheng Yong came to lure the enemy. He only showed up a few times around Shuyang and had no intention of besieging Shuyang at all. He was ready to retreat to Huai'an at any time.

Moreover, Zheng Yong knew that the cavalry of the Shengwu Army was valuable, and he was also afraid that the Second Cavalry Regiment would be completely destroyed north of the Huai River, so he personally led a battalion to the front. Behind him were the two battalions of Zhang Huzi and Qi Xiang, lying in ambush and preparing for a counterattack. There was also a battalion of Zhou Dexing at the back, closer to Huai'an, ready to meet the main force of the Second Cavalry Regiment as they crossed the river south.

The reason for deploying the troops in this way was that they were worried that there would be too many troops in front, which would scare the Yuan army away from pursuing them, or that too many Yuan troops would be attracted and they would find it difficult to escape. A battalion of 1,800 cavalry was just right, and they could attract several thousand Yuan troops and destroy them. Even if their mission was accomplished, there would not be too much loss.

After the scouts of both sides encountered each other, they began to gather their troops. Zheng Yong personally led a battalion of more than 800 cavalrymen to attack and successively killed more than 20 scouts of the other side. He approached Yesu's army for reconnaissance and found out that the approximate number of this Yuan army was about 10,000. So he immediately sent a messenger back to Huai'an to report the news, asking Zhu Liangzu and Zhao Zhongzhong to be prepared, and he himself began to implement the tactic of luring the enemy.

After Zheng Yong killed dozens of Yuan army sentinels in succession, he brutally chopped off their heads, took away their armor and weapons, led away their horses, stripped the bodies of the Yuan army naked and threw them on the official road. He also chopped off the thumbs of several captured Yuan army prisoners, so that they could no longer draw their bows, and then let the prisoners go. This move immediately made Yesu furious. Yesu was just 20 years old this year, and he was born as a prince of Qiexue. He was still relatively young, and it was his first time to lead troops to war. Seeing that the Shengwu Army was so arrogant, he could not suppress his anger. He immediately threw Tuotuo's instructions behind his back, handed over infantry to his deputy general Tu Temur, and led cavalry to pursue Zheng Yong.

Zheng Yong was afraid that this guy would not come, so he walked back slowly at first. But when he saw Yesu really caught up with him, he immediately threw away the heads of the Yuan army scouts and ran back.

When Yesu saw that Zheng Yong had thrown the heads away at random, he became even angrier and immediately sped up to chase after him.

The two sides chased each other and soon fought more than a dozen times, with both sides suffering losses. However, Zheng Yong's troops were too few, only one-third of Yesu's, so he could only keep fleeing and did not dare to confront Yesu head-on. Seeing that the enemy general did not dare to confront him head-on and could only flee, Yesu immediately became excited and thought that the Shengwu Army was nothing special, so he held on to Zheng Yong even more tightly.

The two sides quickly ran dozens of miles in pursuit, and Yesu also widened the distance between him and the main infantry force behind him. By the next day, the two sides had chased to a place thirty miles north of Taoyuan (Siyang), where Liu, Guan and Zhang had sworn brotherhood. There were dozens of wounded soldiers in Zheng Yong's cavalry battalion, with arrows sticking out of their bodies. They lay on horseback and gritted their teeth to continue marching. There were also more than a dozen bodies of Zheng Yong's own soldiers, who were tied to captured horses and followed in the escape.

Yesu was still in pursuit. This group of Prince Qiexue cavalrymen who came from the central government of the Yuan Dynasty were indeed different. The main reason was that their horses were of better quality. They should have been improved with horse breeds tributed from Central Asia. The average shoulder height was between 145 and 150 cm.

The horse that Yesu rode was even over 165cm tall, with a back height of nearly meters. It was a real tall horse, with shiny maroon fur all over its body, a white stripe on its forehead going straight from its mouth and nose, and the mane on its neck swaying like fire while it ran. It had great endurance and was very fast, like Red Hare reborn, and was comparable to Lu Jin's Yaoguang horse. Zheng Yong's eyes had already turned red from looking at him.

Damn it, why can’t their Shengwu Army buy such good horses?

It was precisely because the Yuan army's horses were of better performance that Zheng Yong was unable to create too much distance between him and them, which resulted in him suffering greater losses than ever before.

Fortunately, their suffering was almost over. While running, Zheng Yong suddenly heard a horn blown by the leading bugler in front of him. He immediately turned his head and looked forward, and found the village they had marked.

Zheng Yong blew a whistle, spurred his horse and galloped away, ordering his soldiers to adjust their formation.

Seeing that Zheng Yong was trying to speed up his escape again, Yesu immediately urged his horse to catch up with him. The two sides soon staged the classic cavalry dogfight again, trying to seize the decisive position at the four points on the opponent's right side.

However, in the dogfight for four points, the party pursuing from the rear always has the advantage. Zheng Yong also knew this, so each soldier in his battalion carried a small shield on his right shoulder to defend against incoming arrows from the right rear.

Zheng Yong led his troops to the right to block the advantageous route of the Yuan army's pursuers, while he kept turning back to shoot arrows at the pursuers. During the chase and escape, dozens of cavalrymen on both sides were soon hit by arrows. However, the situation on the Shengwu Army's side was slightly better because they had made preparations in advance. The weaker right side had shields to protect them and wore standard iron armor. As long as they were not hit in the vital parts, even if they were injured, they would not die immediately and at least they still had a chance to hold on.

But the Yuan army had better horses, and once the Yuan cavalry got on with them, Zheng Yong's battalion would inevitably suffer some losses.

It was the same this time. Zheng Yong was "careless" and was caught up by the Yuan cavalry commanded by Yesu, who changed their formation and accelerated. They immediately occupied the four decisive battle positions on the right rear side of Zheng Yong's first battalion.

This is the blind spot for the archers. There are very few people in the world who can shoot with both hands. Once the enemy army goes around to the right rear, they can only passively take the shots and cannot fight back. The cavalry of the Shengwu Army is of course no exception.

However, just when the Yuan cavalry thought they were about to succeed, Zheng Yong's battalion of soldiers put their cavalry bows back into the bow bags, and instead pulled out their cavalry flintlock pistols from their waists. They held the pistol handles with their left hands, used their thumbs to pull open the flint hammer, and held the one-foot-long pistols across their chests, aiming at the right rear side. At the moment when the Yuan cavalry caught up and shot arrows, with a bang from Zheng Yong's gun, the entire cavalry formation seemed to explode, and the sound of muskets exploding became one continuous sound.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang——

The Yuan army on the right was half-crouching, preparing to shoot arrows at the blind spot of the Shengwu Army, but the enemy showed no martial ethics and suddenly fired a round of musketry at their faces.

Moreover, these cavalry flintlock rifles are all large-caliber muskets, loaded with seven or eight iron bead shotgun shells with a diameter of eight millimeters. Shooting in the face at a distance of twenty meters is equivalent to a short-barreled shotgun. At such a close distance, no matter what kind of armor you have, it will definitely be penetrated. Moreover, the shotgun shells are covering fire, so you only need to aim in the general direction. There is no such thing as difficulty in aiming.

After a round of gunfire and smoke, the carefully organized attack formation of Yesu was immediately disrupted by muskets. Three or four hundred Yuan cavalrymen were shot and fell off their horses on the spot. Some horses that had never seen muskets were frightened and went crazy, throwing their masters off or carrying their masters and running away from the formation.

Yesu himself was also frightened. Fortunately, he was not too close and was not hit by the musket. However, seeing three or four hundred of his men fall off their horses in an instant, he was shocked and angry. These bandits clearly had muskets hidden in their hands, but they had been holding back for a whole day and only used them now.

There is no other way. It is not easy to reload a flintlock on horseback. You can only fire one round at a time. Of course, you have to save it for the most critical moment.
Just as the Yuan army was in panic due to the musket fire, Zhang Huzi suddenly led the second battalion of cavalry out from behind the village in front. Nearly a thousand cavalrymen who had been waiting for a long time lined up and passed by the right side of the Yuan army.

Under normal circumstances, when cavalry charge, they usually put the opponent on their left side, because in this way both sides are on their left side and both sides can shoot arrows to attack. However, Zhang Huzi suddenly appeared from the right side of the Yuan army and charged them head-on, putting the Yuan army on his right side.

Similarly, Zhang Huzi's second battalion was also on the right side of the Yuan army, which made it difficult. Under normal circumstances, neither side could shoot arrows to the right, so this time the stirrups lost their meaning.

However, Zhang Huzi showed no martial ethics and led nearly a thousand cavalrymen from the second battalion to pass through the right wing of the Yuan army at high speed while pulling out their flintlock pistols. At this angle where the Yuan army could not fight back at all, nearly a thousand flintlock rifles fired at close range in a cavalry version of a line-up shooting!
Bang bang bang bang bang bang——

In an instant, another five or six hundred Yuan soldiers fell off their horses, and the entire cavalry formation was thinned out.

Zheng Yong and Zhang Huzi cooperated very well in this wave. After firing a shot, the two battalions did not stop at all. They ran away immediately and started to reload from a distance.

Yesu was completely stunned. He didn't understand why every cavalryman of the enemy army had a musket, and why a group of reinforcements of the enemy army suddenly appeared here?

Just as the Yuan cavalry under his command were reorganizing and turning their horses around, the Shengwu Army's raid was not over yet.

The Yuan army had just turned around when another battalion of Shengwu Army cavalry rushed out from the village behind them. It was the third battalion led by Qi Xiang.

The Third Battalion did not use muskets, but they formed a dense formation like a wall, holding spears and lances in one hand, and suddenly rushed out from behind the Yuan army and rushed towards them at high speed.

Yesu was shocked, but it was too late to adjust the formation. The two armies collided immediately, and Qi Xiang's third battalion immediately broke through the formation with lances.

(End of this chapter)