Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 359: Surprised
Wang De carefully returned to the South City and was lifted up in a rattan basket. Sun Chaozong was waiting for him anxiously, and when he saw him come back, he asked hurriedly.

"How was it? Did you meet the Luzhou army commander? What did they say?"

Wang De nodded quickly, "Yes, he is the commander of their Eastern Expedition, the General Yang mentioned in the manifesto. However, he does not trust us and is unwilling to enter the city directly. He told us to open the gate and leave the city at three o'clock tonight. Otherwise, we and our families will die after the city is breached."

Sun Chaozong was stunned for a moment, and then he said in horror, "No, what did you say? How did it become that you and my family will die?"

Wang De had a sad face. "At first I said to let them attack the city directly and we open the south gate to let them in, but he said he suspected we were cheating. What if we close the gate and kill the Luzhou soldiers as soon as they are let in? He said they have the advantage of fire guns, and it won't take much effort to attack the city like ants and climb over the wall to enter the city, so why take the risk?
"He also said that if you really want to surrender, you should just open the gate and leave the city. Then they will take over the city."

Sun Chaozong sat down on the chair, now in a dilemma. If he did not open the gate and leave the city at three o'clock in the morning as Yang Jing requested, wouldn't it be that he was deceiving him?

Seeing this, Wang De asked again, "Brother Sun, what should we do now?"

"Alas, what else can we do? Do you think we can hold on to Jiaxing?"

Wang De shook his head.

"That's terrible. If we can't hold on, we can only obey orders. We have no choice but to surrender now. Otherwise, you and my whole family may be in danger. So, tell the brothers to take care of their own soldiers. Tell everyone to be smart and stay awake at night. Let our brothers guard the city gates and wait for my orders at any time."

"it is good."

While Sun Chaozong was making preparations, Yang Jing was also busy. He kept all the soldiers alert and asked them to prepare torches and bamboo whistles for night battles. The maps of the city streets were distributed to the battalion and company levels, and combat areas were assigned to them. The vanguard regiment and musket regiment of the Imperial Guards Division were transferred to the direction of the south gate to be responsible for the main attack.

Everything is ready, and when the time comes, the army will rush into the city.

In ancient times, the third watch of the night was called Zishi, which is from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. At the beginning of Zishi, there was no movement at the South Gate. Until Zishi exactly, the suspension bridge outside the South Gate was suddenly lowered slowly. The heavy suspension bridge fell to the other side without making any sound. With a creaking sound, the city gate was slowly opened from the inside, and Wang De led a team of soldiers guarding the city nervously out of the city.

It was the first day of the twelfth lunar month. There was only a thin crescent moon in the sky, which could not illuminate the sky at all. It was pitch black outside the city. Sun Chaozong was afraid of being discovered by other Yuan troops in the city, so he didn't even dare to let his soldiers light torches and lanterns. A group of Yuan troops actually sneaked out of the city in the dark.

As a result, not long after crossing the suspension bridge, a flame floated over in the darkness, which scared Wang De. When the flame got closer, he found that it was actually a soldier of the Shengwu Army wearing cloth armor. The man was responsible for guiding Wang De and quickly led him away from the main road to prevent the Yuan army from occupying the road and blocking the siege troops from entering.

Not long after, as more and more people left the city, Sun Chaozong also ran out of the city with his confidants. Zhou Tong then led the heavy armored soldiers of the Vanguard Regiment into the city quickly and occupied the south gate. Following them came the Musket Regiment. The rest of the main attacking forces also lit torches and entered the city. Tens of thousands of torches formed a long fire dragon. Such a big commotion finally alarmed the other Yuan army troops in the city.

"The enemy troops have entered the city! The enemy troops have entered the city! Run!"

Bang bang bang bang————

The sounds of musket fire, grenade explosions, and the shouts of soldiers and horses soon filled the city. After Zhou Tong's vanguard group controlled the South Gate, they quickly rushed to the East Gate, catching the defenders off guard. Soon the East Gate fell into the hands of the Shengwu Army, and the main attack force in the east also entered the city smoothly, and engaged in street fighting with the Yuan army in the city.

Dalan Temur had been worried and had not slept, but at midnight he could not resist his sleepiness and dozed off. In his daze, he heard shouting and killing getting closer and closer, and the city was in chaos. He woke up immediately and thought it was a dream, but then he saw a guard coming hurriedly to report.

"Prime Minister, the city has been breached and the enemy troops have entered the city!"

Daran Temur was shocked and asked hurriedly, "From which side did you enter the city?"

"It's the South Gate. Some people say that Sun Chaozong rebelled and opened the South Gate to let the rebels in."

"This thief deserves to die! I left him alone guarding the South Gate." Dalan Temur cursed angrily and immediately summoned the guards to escort him to escape to the West Gate.

As for defending the city? What the hell, it's the middle of the night, how can we defend the city when the enemy troops have already entered?
However, Yang Jing surrounded three gates and left one gate open, leaving only the west gate unattacked, leaving it for the defenders to escape. The direction chosen by Dalan Temur was correct, but he underestimated the loyalty of the defenders.

This guy ran to the west gate and was shouting at the defenders to open the city gate, but he was recognized by the captain guarding the west gate, who captured him alive on the spot and prepared to hand him over to the Shengwu Army in exchange for a great merit.

The prime minister who was guarding the city had fled, and the enemy army had entered the city. The Yuan army soldiers under them were not stupid, and they would naturally consider their own interests.
The same thing happened at the government office. A group of clerks at the Jiaxing government office heard the shouting and screaming coming from the street outside. Someone went to look for Dalan Temur, but learned that he had already escaped from the west gate. So the clerks immediately turned their attention to Liu Ji, the only remaining senior official in Jiaxing. He was the only one who could make the decision now, and catching him might be a credit.

Everyone looked left and right and at each other, wondering whether they should arrest Liu Dushi.

Liu Ji was so smart that he could see what these people were thinking. He immediately sighed and said.

"Well, if you want to surrender, you can do so. You don't have to tie me up to claim the reward. There are chaotic soldiers outside now. If you really want to surrender, you should defend the government office first.

"You see me as a stepping stone to advancement, but you don't know that in the eyes of those chaotic soldiers outside, what's the difference between you and me? If you can capture me and claim the reward, then those chaotic soldiers can also capture you and claim the reward. If you want to live, why not follow me to guard the documents and books in the treasury? When the Luzhou soldiers come, I will take you to surrender. Although you may not be able to get an official position, you should be able to save your life."

When they heard this, they looked at each other and felt that Liu Ji's words made sense, so they immediately bowed to Liu Ji and said, "I am willing to listen to your arrangements."

So, in the early morning of the first day of the twelfth lunar month in the twelfth year of Zhizheng, when the musketeers of the Shengwu Army's Imperial Guards rushed to the Jiaxing government office, Liu Ji immediately led a large number of Yuan court officials in eastern Zhejiang to surrender at the Jiaxing government office.

Ding Haifeng, the prefect of Jiaxing who went with the army, took office immediately and took over the operation of the government office with the local intelligence station personnel. In consideration of the voluntary surrender of these Yuan court officials, he asked them to cooperate with the handover work first, and then turned against them at dawn the next day.

"All of you who surrendered from the Yuan court will be subject to investigation. Those who have committed corruption and harmed the people will be put to public trial. Those who deserve to be killed will be killed, and those who deserve to be sentenced will be sentenced. For the remaining innocent former Yuan court officials who are willing to continue to serve as officials, you can go to Jiankang to participate in the imperial examination re-examination of the Marshal's Mansion on the third day of March in the spring exam and the ninth day of September in the autumn exam next year. Those who do not want to be officials will be issued travel permits and allowed to go home."

As soon as these words came out, all the surrendering Yuan officials were shocked. Some of them immediately argued, "Prefect Ding, we have surrendered the city, so it should be considered a merit, right? How can you treat us like this?"

Ding Haifeng immediately said contemptuously, "It was Sun Chaozong, Commander Sun, who opened the gates and surrendered the city. What does this have to do with you? Do you have the nerve to take credit for it?"

"Well, at least we have saved the documents of the treasury. Even if it's not a big achievement, it's a small achievement, right?"

Ding Haifeng glanced at the man and asked, "If our army had not entered the city, would you have surrendered? Saving the documents from the treasury shows that you still have some conscience, but using them to seek credit is too much.

"And I'm only talking about punishing corrupt officials who are cruel and harmful to the people. If you haven't done anything harmful to the people, why are you in such a hurry? If you don't do bad things during the day, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door at night, don't you agree?"

These words choked everyone and they were unable to refute. Perhaps one person had really done something wrong and was worried about his life, so he argued again, "Even if we have committed any crimes, they were mistakes made in the previous dynasty. Since you are an official of the new dynasty, why do you use the laws of the new dynasty to punish officials of the old dynasty?" Liu Ji, who was in the crowd, couldn't help but secretly cursed this man as an idiot when he heard this. Ding Haifeng was even more furious and bowed to the west before speaking.

"If it weren't for you, the country's parasites, who were harming the people and causing chaos in the world, how could my master have raised an army to revolt and attack the Yuan Dynasty? What do you mean by punishing the criminals? We are punishing the corrupt officials who are harming the people. The swords of my Shengwu Army will chop off the heads of you, the country's parasites!

"Come here, arrest them all, and detain them separately. Give each of them some paper and pen, and let them report on each other. If anyone does not confess a few dirty deeds, they will not be given food. Anyone who dares to make random accusations and conceal the truth will be punished even more severely! Imprisonment or death penalty, hanging or beheading!
"If someone actively cooperates with the investigation and surrenders himself, it can be regarded as a meritorious performance and the punishment can be reduced or exempted as appropriate."

After saying that, Ding Haifeng walked in front of the crowd and looked at them and said, "I believe you know better than me what you have done. Whether you can survive depends on you. Come on, take him away!"

"Prefect, please spare my life. Please spare my life, Prefect Ding."

A group of surrendered Yuan court officials suddenly found out that they had been deceived. They had thought that by surrendering they could at least save their lives, but now it seems that this group of rebels are really cruel!
Liu Ji was quite cooperative. He had never done anything corrupt. It wasn't that he didn't like money, but his job as a clerk in the Zhejiang East Marshal's Office was not a lucrative position. When it came to corruption and harming the people, it was still the clerks and the Semites. Harming the people was out of the question. The Marshal's Office didn't deal with ordinary people at all, so how could they harm them?
So he was relatively calm, and only hoped that after the review was over, he could return to his hometown to serve his mother. As for whether to participate in the imperial examination in Jiankang and become an official for Lu Jin, he would decide when he came back. At present, this commander of the Shengwu Army did not seem to be an easy person to serve.
On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, after Yang Jing conquered Jiaxing, he did not even enter the city. He just reorganized the prisoners captured in the city, dismissed all the newly recruited soldiers of the Yuan army in the city, and released them as civilians. He also accepted some young and strong people who voluntarily signed up to join the army, including Sun Chaozong who voluntarily surrendered, and organized them into two regiments, one independent regiment and one supplementary regiment.

Then the 116th Division and Ye Sheng's 47th Regiment were left in Jiaxing to garrison, and Ye Sheng was personally in charge of Jiaxing.

As they fought their way here, the 116th Division had almost used up all its manpower. The main force of Li Wang's 49th Regiment was stationed in Wuxi, and two battalions were also stationed in Changzhou and Jiangyin respectively. One regiment was in charge of three cities.

Suzhou, the capital of Pingjiang Road, was also an important city in Jiangdong. Yang Jing left Shen Ren's 48th Regiment in Suzhou and also sent a battalion to garrison Wujiang. One regiment was in charge of two cities.

Now Ye Sheng's 47th Regiment is left to guard Jiaxing, and it is estimated that Haiyan and Haining will also be handed over to him to guard.

However, although one main division was used up, Yang Jing's total force not only did not decrease, but increased instead.

Fighting all the way from Changzhou, the troops expanded by incorporating prisoners alone had already added three divisions and 4 new soldiers. Changzhou expanded four regiments, Wuxi, Suzhou, and Wujiang expanded three regiments in total, and Jiaxing expanded two regiments, which means there are nine regiments of new soldiers. Even if Ye Sheng's 3th Division is left to guard the rear, he still has a net increase of two divisions.
After resting for a day in Jiaxing, just when Yang Jing was about to continue his advance, he received another report from Yu Tonghai behind him, which mainly reported that Fang Guozhen had led the navy to attack but was defeated and driven away by Bai Guangtai's navy. It asked Yang Jing to pay attention to Fang Guozhen in Zhoushan when he continued to attack.

The counties of Haiyan and Haining are right on the edge of Hangzhou Bay, and the Zhoushan Islands where Fang Guozhen is located are at the opening of Hangzhou Bay. If this guy lands on the coast of Hangzhou Bay, he is likely to encounter Yang Jing's main force, so we must be on guard.

When Yang Jing learned of the navy's victory, he immediately ordered his messengers to report the victory everywhere, and spread the news of the navy's victory to everyone, even in Jiaxing City. This was mainly to strike a blow against those with ulterior motives, and tell them not to think that the navy will be of any use to them. They are still vulnerable to our Shengwu Army. If they give up resistance and surrender as soon as possible, they may still have a chance to survive.

Liu Ji, who was under investigation in Jiaxing City, could not help but sigh when he learned of the good news.

Fang Guozhen's navy, the last hope of the Yuan army in eastern Zhejiang, was defeated. A brother was killed and half of the ships he brought were captured. It seems that eastern Zhejiang can no longer be saved.
The next day, the second day of the twelfth lunar month, the main force in the north led by Yang Jing ended its rest and continued to march towards Chongde County with two newly recruited regiments.

At the same time, after two days of rest in Huzhou, the 41st Army, the main force of the south led by Zhu Shou, successfully joined forces with the 42nd Army, the detachment of the south led by Hua Yunlong and Xu Da, arrived at Wukang and Deqing on the first day of the twelfth lunar month, and launched a general attack on the two cities on the second day of the twelfth lunar month.

At the same time, upon learning that Jiaxing had been captured and Yang Jing was continuing to press towards Chongde with his main force, Haiyan and Haining counties also surrendered to Zhang Long's vanguard cavalry one after another.

With Hangzhou already destroyed, the loss of Jiaxing, a core city in eastern Zhejiang, was a huge blow to the Yuan court in eastern Zhejiang. The two strategic fulcrums of Huzhou and Jiaxing were gone. Even such heavily guarded central cities could not be defended, let alone the remaining small counties where there were almost no soldiers. As a result, the two counties of Haining and Haiyan "surrendered at the sight of the enemy."

This is also commonly seen in history books, that after the core of a faction is destroyed, the remaining marginal areas are "conquered by a single order". The offensive speed demonstrated by the Shengwu Army since the Eastern Expedition is enough to make these marginal counties surrender.

On the northern side, after Fang Guozhen was driven away on the 30th, Yu Tonghai began to advance towards Songjiang. He marched on the first and second days of the twelfth lunar month and was expected to arrive in Songjiang on the second day. He would officially launch the attack on the third day. There were still troops of Fang Jianu waiting for them there. After this battle, the Taihu Plain north of Hangzhou would be completely taken.

At the same time, Fang Guozhen also returned to his base camp on Zhoushan Island. Unlike the majestic appearance when he left, the returning navy fleet was like eggplants hit by frost, with even the hoisted sails drooping weakly.

No one cheered, no one celebrated. There were nearly four hundred ships when they left, but less than two hundred when they returned. It was obvious that they had suffered a great defeat.

When Zhan Ding heard the soldiers report that the navy had returned, he hurried to the port to greet them. He immediately discovered something was wrong. Before he could ask Fang Guozhen what was going on, he saw the soldiers on the ship carrying down the bodies of Fang Guoying and Fang Guomin. Well, there was no need to ask now.
After returning to his residence, Fang Guozhen asked someone to find a doctor to remove the iron bead from his leg and suture it. He also asked someone to prepare for the funeral of the two brothers. Only then did he have time to call Zhan Ding to discuss countermeasures.

Zhan Ding was also very surprised and astonished by the result of this naval battle. In his impression, Fang Guozhen's navy had so many ships and was very good at naval battles. In the three years since the rebellion, they had fought against the Yuan army's navy many times and had never lost. Every time they defeated the Yuan army's navy. How come they fell in front of the Shengwu Army this time?
So when Fang Guozhen was free, he immediately asked, "Is the Luzhou navy so powerful? How did you lose?"

"Alas." Fang Guozhen sighed and said regretfully, "The Luzhou navy is not that strong. They only have 200 river ships, which are not as big as my sea ships and only half as many as mine. But I was defeated by the advantage of the terrain.

"It is said that the time, the place and the people are all favorable. The Luzhou navy has long been prepared for me. They know that my ships are all seagoing ships with deep drafts and cannot sail on shallow sand. They not only surveyed the depths of Chongmingzhou and Yaoliusha in advance, but also hid ambushes in the northwest of Chongmingzhou and specially formulated a strategy to deal with me.

"Also, their navy's tactics are different from ours. Our army is good at close combat, but the Luzhou navy's ships are equipped with many fire guns. They have a kind of fire gun warship, with a large fire gun on each side and bow, and four small fire guns on both sides with extremely fast firing speeds."

Fang Guozhen pointed to a plate on the table. Inside were iron bullets he had collected from the ship. There were two sizes, the big one was like a grape, and the small one was like a soybean. It had a sense of beauty like "big and small pearls falling on a jade plate."
"That's the thing. Their muskets can fire hundreds of these iron bullets from a distance of 200 to 300 steps. If you're hit directly within 100 steps, it can smash you to pieces. Even if you're 200 to 300 steps away, it can easily penetrate armor. My fifth brother was killed by the enemy's muskets while wearing armor. He was hit in the chest by four bullets and died instantly. Even the armor couldn't stop it.

"The small ones don't seem to be able to shoot far, and they are also difficult to penetrate armor, but they are fired very quickly, which is completely different from the official army's bowl-mouthed guns. They can fire hundreds of these bean-sized iron balls at a time. I was hit by one on my leg."

Fang Guozhen recounted the details of the battle, how he was let off by the Luzhou navy, how the fourth brother Fang Guoying's detachment was driven into shallow water and stranded, and finally besieged and killed.

He also said that the Luzhou navy would rather die than surrender. When two of their ships were surrounded by him, they would rather sink their ships and jump into the water to escape than be his prisoners. He also said that after he retreated, the Luzhou navy released his captured nephew Fang Mingshan, and asked him to send back the body of the fourth brother Fang Guoying, and also brought him a letter.

Speaking of the letter, Fang Guozhen quickly took it out and handed it to Zhan Ding, "This letter is very strange, I can't understand it, sir, please help me take a look, what did the Luzhou soldier Gongshu Dashu say?"

Zhan Ding sighed and said with emotion, "Knowing yourself and the enemy, you can fight a hundred battles without danger. The Luzhou soldiers knew that their ships were not as good as yours, but they were able to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, making full use of the advantages of the terrain. How could they be defeated? Your loss in this battle is not unfair."

After saying that, he unfolded the letter and found it strange. The letter was written horizontally, from left to right. The handwriting did not seem to be written with a brush. Each stroke was like a sword, vigorous and powerful, but at the same time, one could see that it was running cursive calligraphy similar to the "Zhao style". It was indeed extraordinary.

"Was this letter written by General Gongshu of Luzhou?"

"That's what Mingshan said. The enemy general who gave him the letter also said that it was written before the Eastern Expedition. He said that if he encountered my navy, he should give the letter to me. What exactly was written on it?" Fang Guozhen asked puzzledly.

"Let me take a look first." Zhan Ding said immediately.

(End of this chapter)