Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 365 Tuotuo Retreats

In the direction of Xuzhou, Tuotuo decided to fire artillery to destroy the city after a long siege, but ultimately failed. He had no choice but to turn around and attack the military camps south of Xuzhou, while also surrounding and attacking the reinforcements, hoping to lure the Xuzhou defenders out of the city and annihilate them in the wild.

Before leaving, Tuotuo asked Yuekochar to continue filling the moat and digging tunnels, preparing to attack the city after returning from the military camp.

On the 25th of the winter month, Tuotuo's main force turned south, and Peng Da was guarding the three military camps between Xuzhou and Suzhou. Before the war, the three highest commanders of Xuzhou agreed that Li Er would guard Xuzhou, Peng Da would command the three military camps in the middle, and Zhao Junyong would guard Suzhou at the end.

After Tuotuo arrived at the nearest military camp to Xuzhou, he was not in a hurry to attack. Instead, he ordered people to surround the camp and let the laborers fill the trenches. His main purpose was to see if Zhima Li would come out.

Zhima Li himself still wanted to go and rescue them. This was not only a matter of brotherhood, but also because the military camp was their retreat route. If the retreat was taken over by the Yuan army, then they would really be trapped in the isolated city.

However, Mao Gui disagreed and retorted to Zhima Li at that time, "General, the Yuan army can't take Xuzhou. Now it is clear that they want to surround it and attack the reinforcements to lure us out of the city. Isn't it suicide to go out at this time?"

Zhima Li pounded the pillar in the room and said worriedly, "But what if Peng Da can't defend the military camp and dies in the hands of the Yuan army?"

Mao Gui immediately comforted him, "Let's wait and see, maybe General Peng can hold on."

However, he probably didn't even believe what he said. There were only 10,000 defenders in each of Peng Da's military camps, while Tuotuo had more than 100,000 main forces. Those military camps had wooden walls and trenches, which were no match for the solidity of Xuzhou. As long as Tuotuo was not afraid of casualties and launched a strong attack, he could still break the military camp.

Zhima Li also sighed and regretted, "If only we had started preparing a year in advance, we could have built a strong city directly at the location of the three military camps. It didn't need to be too big, just enough to hold off the Yuan army, and we wouldn't be as passive as we are now. But it's too late to say anything now."

A few days later, on the first day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Er could no longer hold back. Mao Gui wanted to persuade him again, but Li Er said, "Xuzhou City is impregnable. Its only weakness is that there is too little food. The food in the city is only enough for four months. Tuotuo came at the beginning of the winter month. It has been a month now, and there is only three months of food left in the city.

"If Fu Youde and Li Xixi cannot burn Tuotuo's food supplies, we will be dead sooner or later if we continue to be surrounded like this. The military camp is our retreat route. If we do nothing to help them now, we will have no way to retreat.

"I didn't know much about military tactics before, but I've learned a lot this year. The military tactics say to unite with the normal and win with the unusual. We are the normal and Fu Youde is the unusual. But we can't put all our hopes on the unusual troops. We have to find ways to save ourselves."

Mao Gui naturally knew this truth. He just didn't want Zhima Li to take risks, but Zhima Li had said this, so he could only agree. So he asked again, "Okay, how many soldiers are you going to take out of the city with you, Marshal?"

Zhima Li said immediately, "There are too many soldiers in Xuzhou City, 60,000 combat soldiers and 40,000 civilians, a total of 100,000 people. If I take 30,000 combat soldiers to rescue the military camp, there will only be 60,000 people left in the city. You can save the remaining food in the city, and it will last at least five months, enough to hold out until Tuotuo withdraws.

"There are enough food in the military camps to feed 100,000 troops for seven days. Each military camp has 10,000 soldiers. I will bring 30,000 soldiers with me, so there will be 40,000 soldiers. The food in each military camp is enough for us to eat for half a month.

"When there is not much food left, we will continue to retreat and go to the next military camp to get food. I can retreat all the way to Suzhou. Suzhou has a strong city to defend. Then we will all retreat to two strong cities and leave the land in between. I don't believe Tuotuo can stay in a strong city for half a year without retreating."

Mao Gui immediately said, "Then I will go with the Marshal!"

Zhima Li shook his head and said, "No, you can't go. We can't give up Xuzhou either. After I leave, I will feel at ease only if you come to guard Xuzhou."

Mao Gui wanted to fight for it again, but Zhima Li raised his hand to interrupt him and continued to instruct, "Xuzhou is difficult to capture. Tuotuo has tried every trick now. He is now surrounding the city and attacking the reinforcements. In the end, his target is still us. He will never give up Xuzhou so easily. Be careful that he may use other siege methods, such as breaching the dike to flood the city, digging tunnels to attack, etc. You have to be careful."

"Well, Marshal, don't worry. With me here, I will definitely defend Xuzhou." Mao Gui immediately agreed solemnly.

So Zhima Li immediately began to mobilize troops, selected 30,000 elite soldiers, and had people prepare dry food and let the soldiers go to bed early. The next day, the second day of the twelfth lunar month, at four o'clock in the morning, before dawn, Zhima Li ordered the army to assemble and prepare to leave the city. Each person also carried three days of dry food.

Before leaving, Mao Gui came to see him off, and Zhima Li pulled him aside and told him privately, "If our army loses this battle and I die, you should go to Luzhou."

Mao Gui was immediately shocked and asked hurriedly, "Why do you say that, Marshal?"

Zhima Li sighed, "Lu Jin is very shrewd. He asked us to block Tuotuo for him in the north, but he took the opportunity to occupy the Huaiyang Salt Field in the north of the Yangtze River. Now he is sending troops to attack the east of Zhejiang. We are fighting hard in the front, but he is picking on the weak ones who are rich but have few soldiers in the back. He sold us 10,000 sets of armor just to use us.

“But at this moment, you have to admit that among the Red Scarf factions in the world today, only by following Lu Jin can you avoid losses. You must remember that even if you cannot be friends with this person, at least you should not be his enemy.

"Besides, only he who occupies Jiangsu and Zhejiang can have food to rescue you. We are not short of soldiers here, but we are short of food. Xu Shouhui is too far away from us. Although Liu Futong is close, he does not have that much food. Our territory is a neighbor of the Shengwu Army. If you don't join him, who else can you join?"

Mao Gui said quickly, "The Marshal will be fine. As long as the 30,000 troops march together and prepare more strong bows and crossbows, even if Tuotuo has the advantage of cavalry, it will be difficult to break through the formation. But after reaching the military camp, the Marshal must not stay there. He must immediately meet up with General Peng and continue to retreat south together. Otherwise, it will be dangerous if he is surrounded by Tuotuo."

Li Er immediately raised his hand to interrupt, "What if? I mean what if."

Mao Gui nodded slightly, agreeing to his suggestion, but then asked, "What about General Zhao?"

Speaking of Zhao Junyong, Li Er frowned immediately. When he first started the rebellion, Zhao Junyong joined the gang and was quite active, helping him contact people everywhere. He didn't think there was anything wrong at the time, but after a year of getting along with him, he found that Zhao Junyong was not a good person. He was ambitious, power-loving, cruel and bloodthirsty, ruthless to his subordinates, and an expert in fighting for power and profit. However, he could not make any achievements in fighting and external development. He was submissive to the outside world and attacked hard at home.

This kind of person is relatively easy to get along with during a period of external expansion if the expansion goes smoothly. However, once the expansion stagnates, he will be the first to fight with his own people.

In fact, Zhao Junyong was a typical character in peasant uprising in history. He was born in a humble family, and when he suddenly gained power, he immediately became corrupt and extremely arrogant. He only cared about consolidating his power, but had no ambition to make progress and did not think about unifying the country.

You say he has ambitions, and his ambition for power is indeed great, but you say he wants to pacify the world and become an emperor? He may have really thought about it, but he has neither the ability nor the vision.

You are like Zhu Yuanzhang. Although Zhu himself came from a humble background and didn't know much, he had a strong learning ability and his own way of dealing with people. He learned while fighting. The key was that he was willing to employ people. It didn't matter if he didn't know anything himself. As long as he was willing to employ people, there would naturally be people who knew how to assist him.

But what about Zhao Junyong? This man was extremely greedy for his power. It was impossible for him to share power with his subordinates. Just like Xiang Yu, he was so tired of the official seal that he was reluctant to give an official position to his subordinates. Even if someone came to surrender, he could not keep him.

You just started your business and you say you are poor, which is understandable as everyone lives a hard life. But you should at least give them some power and official position. Without power and official position, who will work for you?

So Zhima Li said, "Zhao Junyong is a man who is vindictive and has no tolerance for others. He is ambitious but has no means. He is a man with high expectations but low skills. If you follow him, you will not end well. You decide for yourself. If you follow him, you must not go against his wishes, otherwise your life may be in danger."

Li Er patted Mao Gui on the shoulder and said no more. He ordered the South Gate to be opened and led his troops out of the city immediately.

At around four or five in the morning of the twelfth lunar month in winter, before daybreak, Zhima Li suddenly rushed out of Xuzhou City with an army of 30,000, catching Yue Kuochar outside the city by surprise, and the 30,000 soldiers escaped.

Yuekuochar was very excited. The plan of besieging the enemy and attacking the reinforcements was really successful, so he hurriedly sent someone to report to Tuotuo. Tuotuo immediately sent troops to stop them, but he failed to stop them after sending two groups of troops in succession. After two battles, both sides suffered losses and finally the Yuan army was defeated.

Li Er successfully entered the military camp and joined Peng Da and Xue Xian, but he was not happy at all. Peng Da asked him what happened. Didn't they agree to bring 100,000 men together? Why did they only bring 30,000 men? Zhima Li told him his thoughts and then said, "I suspect Tuotuo deliberately let us in. He wants to swallow up my 30,000 troops and the military camp."

Peng Da, on the other hand, comforted him, "What's the point of saying all this now? Let's just fight together. But I'm a little surprised that you're willing to send troops to rescue me. It seems that I, Old Peng, was right about you."

Li Er immediately laughed and said, "Hahahaha, didn't you, Peng Da, come to me to seek refuge because of my reputation as Sesame Li?"

In the next few days, just as Li Er guessed, he was able to come and reunite with Peng Da. It was indeed Tuotuo who intentionally let him come. Otherwise, with the 10,000 Qiexue cavalry in Tuotuo's hands, Zhima Li would have been very hard-pressed to get him to come and reunite. How could it be so easy to let him come and reunite?

Tuotuo quickly mobilized all his main forces, and more than 100,000 troops surrounded the military camp and launched attacks day and night.

Previously, Xuzhou had a strong city that the Yuan army could not attack. Now, although the military camp is also surrounded by trenches and has high wooden walls, it is not a real city after all.

The main force of Tuotuo's Yuan army fought fiercely for six consecutive days from the third to the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Zhima Li and Peng Da finally could not hold on and allowed the Yuan army to attack the military camp. The two men led tens of thousands of remaining soldiers to break out to the south, preparing to go to the next military camp, but they were harassed by the Yuan cavalry.

On his way to break out, Zhima Li was caught alive by Yuan cavalry. Peng Da and Xue Xian also ran away. They both put on makeup, hid their identities, and hid temporarily.

After Tuotuo won the battle, he sent out a detachment, led by Shi Pu and Xuexue, to continue attacking the two military camps in the south. He himself led the main force to counterattack Xuzhou. It happened that the tunnel dug by Yue Kuochar was dug through, so he could launch a general attack.

As soon as Tuotuo came back, he took Zhima Li to the foot of the city and said that if they opened the city and surrendered, the lives of the defenders in the city would be spared. Otherwise, he would kill Zhima Li first and then massacre the city after attacking, and no one in the city would survive.

When the Xuzhou defenders saw Zhima Li being captured, their morale plummeted. However, Zhima Li shouted loudly under the city.

"Don't believe his lies. Tens of thousands of our brothers in the military camp surrendered, but they were all killed. You must defend the city. The food in the city is enough for you to eat for two years. As long as you hold on, the Yuan army will retreat. Only by defending the city can you save your lives!"

Upon hearing this, Tuotuo became furious. He cut off Li Er's limbs on the spot, cut open his stomach, and finally cut off his head. Then he led his troops to attack the city, attacking both above and below the ground.

Unexpectedly, Mao Gui, reminded by Zhima Li, had long been on guard against the Yuan army digging tunnels. He had discovered it a few days ago but pretended not to know it. When the Yuan army rushed into the city through the tunnel, they were besieged and killed by the defenders arranged in advance by Mao Gui.

On the side of the Xuzhou defenders on the city wall, Mao Gui was still pretending to be panic-stricken, as if the city had really been attacked. Tuotuo thought that the Yuan army that entered the city through the tunnel had succeeded, and immediately launched an attack on the city. As a result, when the Yuan army outside the city approached, Mao Gui immediately ordered arrows to be shot, and dozens of cannons were fired at the same time. This wave of counterattacks from both inside and outside caused the Yuan army to lose more than 20,000 people, which was considered a little revenge.

Tuotuo failed in his siege again and became furious. He wanted to break the dike and flood the city, but the conditions did not allow it. It was winter and the water level was at its lowest. Besides, breaking the dike and flooding the city would require building a dam, which would take time. But he did not have enough food now.

On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, just when Tuotuo failed again in his siege, bad news suddenly came from Pei County in Huaibei. The 100,000 shi of military rations left by the Yuan army in Pei County were all burned, and only 10,000 shi were rescued. It was done by a group of about 3,000 soldiers who came out of Mangdang Mountain.

The remaining troops of the Yuan army captured some prisoners. According to the confessions of the prisoners, they were subordinates of Zhima Li, and the general leading the army was called Fu Youde. In September, Zhima Li had asked them to hide in Mangdang Mountain, waiting for the main force of the Yuan army to cross the Huai River, and then find an opportunity to attack their food supply routes.

Tuotuo was furious. One hundred thousand shi of military rations were enough to feed 40 soldiers and civilians for days. Now it was all gone. He hurriedly asked if the man had been caught. The messenger said no. Fu Youde fled to the west towards Mangdang Mountain with more than a thousand remaining soldiers. They had no cavalry and dared not pursue too far.

Tuotuo asked how much food was left. Yue Kuocaer, who stayed behind in the Xuzhou camp, said quickly, "There are still 8,000 shi of food in Xuzhou, enough for the army to eat for three days."

"It's only been three days." Tuotuo suddenly felt helpless.

Then, Xuexue in the south brought him another piece of news. It was good news. Two other military camps had also been captured. They contained more than 20,000 stones of grain, enough to feed the army for about ten days.

The bad news is that when the military camp was breached, the defenders set fire to the granary and burned some of it. Now there are only 14,000 shi left, which is only enough for the army to eat for five or six days.
"Three days plus six days, very good, there are still nine days of military rations."

Tuotuo was shaking with anger, and after a while he asked again, "How much military rations have been transported from Haining?"

"The last time they reported, they said only 50,000 stones were shipped in." Yue Kuochar replied quickly.

Tuotuo frowned and asked, "Why is it only 50,000 stones?"

Yue Kuochaier explained, "The latest news sent yesterday was that Ding Ding, the governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province, reported that the Red Turbans of Luzhou captured Hangzhou on the fourth day of the twelfth lunar month and are gathering troops in Hangzhou. Now there are nearly 200,000 troops on the west bank of the Qiantang River and are preparing to attack Shaoxing. Everything north of Shaoxing is now gone. The navy of Fang Guozhen, the commander of the sea transport, went to attack Kunshan, but was defeated by the enemy navy and many of his ships were seized.

"Dingding is now unable to raise any more military rations. He asked Fang Guozhen to send some to Haining, but he doesn't know how much of it will arrive."

When Tuotuo heard that northern Zhejiang, the richest part of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, had been almost completely occupied by the Shengwu Army and that he was sure that he could no longer raise food and supplies, he almost fainted. No matter how he fought in this battle, it could be said that his strategy had completely failed.

The purpose of attacking Xuzhou was to open up the canal transportation channel, and the purpose of opening up the canal transportation channel was to obtain grain from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Now even Jiangsu and Zhejiang are gone, so what would it matter if we could open up the canal transportation channel? We still couldn't get grain.
Moreover, this was not only a strategic failure, but also a tactical victory. Since arriving in Xuzhou in early November, he had only broken through three of Zhima Li's military camps, killed tens of thousands of bandits, and even killed Zhima Li himself, but he had not captured a single city. Could this be considered a tactical victory? It would be embarrassing to tell anyone about it.
Tuotuo sat there, not knowing what he was thinking about, while Yuekuochar was calculating beside him.

"Eight thousand plus fourteen thousand shi, twenty-two thousand shi, enough for ten days. Pei County also seized ten thousand shi, plus the fifty thousand shi from Haining, enough for another forty days. If we can't take Xuzhou within a month, we will have to withdraw our troops."

Tuotuo asked again, "Can we transport the food from Haining?"

Yue Kuochar shook his head, "I'm afraid not."

Tuotuo immediately said in a cold voice, "What do you do for a living? You can't even transport food?"

Yue Kuochaer immediately knelt down and advised, "Prime Minister, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have already fallen, and Xuzhou is difficult to capture. Moreover, even if we capture Xuzhou now, we can't get the grain from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Continuing the confrontation may be disadvantageous to our army.

"Moreover, we haven't caught Fu Youde in the rear yet. The Luzhou Red Turbans in Huai'an have crossed the Huai River again and captured Andong (Lianshui). Their several thousand cavalry with fire guns have also gone to Huaibei. With these two enemy forces on our rear flanks, if they get a chance to transport grain from Haining, I'm afraid it will be difficult to preserve these 50,000 dan of grain.

"Prime Minister, withdraw your troops!"

Tuotuo was so angry that he had nothing to say. He was sulking for a long time before he made a decision in the evening. He asked people to clean up the pontoon bridge on the Huai River, and summoned Xuexue and Shi Pu to bring back a detachment of troops and food. After the detachment returned, they would retreat to Pei County. Whether to continue fighting would be decided after they retreated to Huaibei.

At the same time, just as Tuotuo was preparing to withdraw his troops, Deng Shunxing's group in Hong County was also marching towards Haozhou.

This group of people were frightened by the battle between Tuotuo and Zhima Li. With only more than 10,000 of them, they would be dead if they encountered Tuotuo's army and could not stop it at all. So, under the instigation of the open military strategist Gong Xiuwen, and the undercover generals Tang Shengzong, Guo Ying, Lu Zhongheng and Song Guoxing, Old Deng took his two sons, Deng Youlong and Deng Yu, and the newly defected generals Hu Dahai, Hu Sanshe, and Hu Guanzhu, father and son, and more than 10,000 troops, to Haozhou to defect to Lu Jin.

(End of this chapter)