Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 368 Confused Xuzhou

After hearing Xia Yu's concerns and Bao Yu's solution, Feng Guoyong took a bite of rice, thought for a while, and then spoke.

“I think that instead of passively waiting for Zhao Junyong to make a move, it is better to take the initiative to test Xuzhou’s attitude.

"Since Xuzhou was not conquered by the Yuan army, there must still be defenders in the city. There are also the two independent armies outside, Li Xixi and Fu Youde, and Mao Gui in Xuzhou City. They are all from the Zhima Li faction. Will these people be willing to let Zhao Jun seize power?

"Perhaps we can try to actively win them over, and by the way, take over Xuzhou City and surround Zhao Junyong."

Lu Jin didn't say anything after hearing this, but thought while eating, so the three of them just looked at him.

Among the three, only Xia Yu was a new arrival after crossing the river. He didn't know about the preparations Lu Jin had made to annex Xuzhou, so he only thought that Zhao Junyong might be a threat to his side. However, Feng Guoyong and Bao Yu knew that Lu Jin had already had his eyes on Xuzhou.

However, the current situation is not quite the same as what Lu Jin had originally envisioned. Lu Jin deduced future trends based on the original history.

According to the original history, Xuzhou was captured by Tuotuo within a few days, after which the Xuzhou Group immediately fell apart. Zhao Junyong, Peng Da, Xue Xian, Mao Gui and others fled to Haozhou, where they lived with Guo Zixing, Sun Deya and others. Later, Zhao Junyong took over the position of the landlord and squeezed out Guo Zixing, the "landlord". He had to go to Chuzhou to join his son-in-law Zhu Yuanzhang, who had set up his own faction.

Fu Youde and Li Xixi went to support Liu Futong. Mao Gui and Xue Xian could not stand Zhao Junyong's exclusion and later also went to support Liu Futong.
If the original history had been followed, Lu Jin would not even need to do anything. He just needed to establish a good relationship with Zhima Li in advance. In this way, after his Xuzhou was conquered by Tuotuo, he would have the opportunity to obtain part of Zhima Li's legacy - troops, generals and territory.

However, in order to cross the river three years earlier than Zhu Yuanzhang in history, occupy and monopolize the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang before Zhang Shicheng, and find and expand the strategic window for sending troops to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he did two things that were different from the original history. First, he delayed Tuotuo's march south through Li Qi, and second, he reminded and strengthened Xuzhou's defense forces, hoping that they could hold on in the north for a while longer and create opportunities for him to capture Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The problem now is that he did take control of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but Xuzhou was not defeated by Tuotuo as in history. Although Zhima Li himself died, for the entire Xuzhou Group, it was only a serious injury and has not completely collapsed.

Mao Gui and his men at least had Xuzhou as their foothold, and they still had tens of thousands of troops. After Tuotuo withdrew his troops, they could still survive and even continue to expand outward. Would they still go to Liu Futong or Lu Jin? That was not certain.

Will Zhao Junyong seize power internally and kill Mao Gui, Fu Youde and others, or squeeze them out? This is likely to happen, because if he doesn't do this, he will not be Zhao Junyong.

In the original history, Mao Gui was squeezed out because he could not stand Zhao Junyong's struggle for power and profit. He defected to Liu Futong. Later, Liu Futong launched the Longfeng Northern Expedition. Mao Gui, as the commander of the Eastern Army, controlled the entire Shandong Province and began to approach Dadu. At the same time, he provided supply support and tactical coordination to the Central Army in Liaodong across the Bohai Sea.

However, Zhao Junyong had been occupying the magpie's nest, fighting for power and profit, and was not liked by the various rebel armies. He had been having a miserable time. Later, he used his old skills again, ran to Shandong to compete with Mao Gui for military power, and assassinated Mao Gui. This led to the collapse of the Eastern Army, which was defeated by Li Chahan and pushed its territory to the north of Xuzhou. Guan Duo's Central Army entrenched in Liaodong also lost the supplies and cooperation from Shandong, and was eventually wiped out by the double attack of Goryeo and Dadu Yuan armies.

It can be said that the ultimate failure of the Longfeng Northern Expedition was caused by Zhao Junyong's trip to Shandong to compete for power with Mao Gui.

It has become Zhao Junyong's instinct to occupy the magpie's nest and fight for power. In order to grab power, this guy will not hesitate to do anything to anyone. Do you expect such a bastard to live in peace with Mao Gui and others? That's a joke!
So faced with this situation, how can we maximize our own interests?
Lu Jin thought for a long time before saying, "Mr. Guo Yong is right. We should not be too radical. We cannot take the initiative to fight, but we can try to win them over. We should also let Haozhou and Gaoyou strengthen their vigilance. We should not have the intention to harm others, but we must be on guard against others.

"Among all the righteous armies in the world, we have developed the fastest in the past year or so. We have also occupied the most prosperous Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, which has already made people jealous. If we take the initiative to fight with Zhao Junyong at this time, it will definitely give people a reason to criticize us and put our army in an unjust position. Then the heroes of the world will attack us together.

"In short, don't be too greedy. We still have to save our dignity. But if no one offends me, I won't offend him. If Zhao Junyong takes the initiative to attack us, then we have nothing to say. We must fight back fiercely to deter other villains and make an example of them.

"Send a message to Yu Tongyuan and Bian Yuanheng, saying that Xuzhou's Zhima Li was killed in battle and that the Xuzhou forces are likely to experience internal strife. Tell them to be on high alert, lest Zhao Jun goes crazy and invades our territory."

Upon hearing this, Feng Guoyong quickly found paper and pen to record the order, and Lu Jin continued.

"We also need to find someone to send a letter to Mao Gui in Xuzhou to make our attitude clear."

Bao Yu immediately asked, "Should we send a special envoy? This will make it more formal and show that the lord values ​​them."

Lu Jin immediately shook his head, "No, Zhao Junyong hasn't fallen out with them yet, so sending an envoy would seem too intimate, which would give Zhao Junyong a reason to exclude them. Then Mao Gui and the others might think that we are deliberately instigating them behind their backs, which would be bad.

"I'll write him a personal letter and give him a token. I can just ask a messenger to deliver it."

Xia Yu expressed a different opinion. "General, I think it would be better to send an envoy. If you are worried about arousing the suspicion of Zhao Junyong and Mao Gui, you can send someone to pay tribute to Zhima Li as an envoy and write a eulogy. This way, the two armies will appear to be good neighbors without being too close."

Feng Guoyong also nodded and said, "That's a good reason. We can do this."

After listening to this, Lu Jin also thought that this was a good idea. When an important figure in the rebel army died, it was normal to send an envoy to pay tribute. No one could find fault with this, so he nodded and said, "Who should be sent as the envoy?"

Xia Yu immediately volunteered, "I am willing to go on this mission for my lord."

"Well, let you write the eulogy. Mourn Zhima Li and mention the friendship between the two armies. Then send my letter to Mao Gui. There is no need to say anything else. There is no need to win him over. Also, tell him to be careful of Zhao Junyong. If he encounters any difficulties, feel free to send someone to me for help. The two armies have been friendly neighbors for so long, and this time they are fighting side by side. It is only right for us to support each other." "Yes." Xia Yu agreed immediately and started writing the eulogy after dinner.

Lu Jin also wrote a personal letter and asked someone to find a wooden box, put a cavalry flintlock pistol in it, and gave it to Mao Gui as a gift. He also selected a platoon of his personal soldiers to escort Xia Yu to Xuzhou. As a result, several military orders were issued from Jiankang that day.

Two or three days later, Yu Tongyuan of Haozhou, Bian Yuanheng of Gaoyou, and Zhu Liangzu of Huai'an each received messages from Lu Jin asking them to be on high alert.

At the same time, Yu Tongyuan was also providing resettlement for the families of Deng Shunxing's army. After the soldiers' families were resettled, they were allowed to cross the river to Jiankang.

At the same time, Shi Pu and Xuexue were also withdrawing troops from the front line, carrying the food seized from the military camp. On the 14th day of the twelfth lunar month, they withdrew to Xuzhou and reunited with Tuotuo.

On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the floating bridge on the Huai River was repaired. Tuotuo looked at the city of Xuzhou with hatred, and then he ordered his men to take Zhima Li's head, break camp and cross the river, and withdraw their troops to Huaibei.

After the main force of the Yuan army withdrew to Huaibei, Tuotuo was very angry, especially about Fu Youde who burned his food and grass. If it weren't for Fu Youde, he could have fought for at least another month, and maybe he could have ushered in a turning point. Why did he withdraw in such a miserable way?

So Tuotuo immediately sent out the main force of more than 10,000 Qiexue cavalry to Fengpei and Mangdang Mountain to look for the trace of Fu Youde's army. If they were caught, Fu Youde would definitely die a miserable death.

But Fu Youde was not a fool. After he burned all the food supplies in Pei County, he knew that it was meaningless for him to continue staying in Huaibei. The Yuan army's food supply was cut off, and even if the main force did not withdraw, they would definitely send a large army to search for him. It would be dangerous to continue staying in Huaibei. Moreover, he only had more than 2,000 people left, and it would be difficult for him to make any moves in Huaibei.

So they started moving towards Dangshan County long ago and hid on the north bank of the Huai River. They also sent scouts to monitor the movements of the Yuan army in the direction of Xuzhou. After discovering that Tuotuo was planning to cross the river and retreat to the north, they immediately found the boats they had hidden when crossing the river, and rowed back to Mangdang Mountain in Huainan and hid there.

Then Fu Youde sent out two groups of scouts. One group went to Jishan, south of Yongcheng, to look for Li Xixi, to ask him how he was doing and whether he had succeeded. The other group went to investigate the situation in the direction of Xuzhou to see whether the Yuan army was retreating north in full or leaving a small force in Huainan. If all the troops were withdrawn, he could return to Xuzhou to report to Li Zhima.

On the other side in Huaibei, the cavalry sent by Tuotuo found their way to the vicinity of Dangshan County and discovered that Fu Youde had crossed the river back to Huainan. Tuotuo became even more angry, but he could do nothing about Fu Youde. The army had just retreated to the north bank, and they couldn't cross the river again to capture him, right?

So Tuotuo turned his anger towards the Shengwu Army in Huai'an.

However, it was not so easy for him to attack. Xuzhou to Huai'an was more than 500 miles away. If it was an infantry march, it would take at least ten days or half a month. Even if Tuotuo moved his troops over, he did not have enough food and grass to fight Zhu Liangzu. He could only send some cavalry at most. However, with so few soldiers, it would be difficult to pose enough threat to Zhu Liangzu, and it might not even be enough to force him to retreat to Huainan.

However, the Shengwu Army still had a lot of preparations to make. Zheng Yong received an emergency notice a few days ago, informing him that Tuotuo's main force was retreating to the north and was ready to turn around to deal with him at any time. He was asked to withdraw his troops towards Andong and be ready to cross the river to retreat to the south. Therefore, Zheng Yong's cavalry regiment had already retreated to the city of Andong.

Zhao Zhongzhong, who was temporarily stationed in Andong (Lianshui), also received an order to send scouts to the west and north to conduct reconnaissance. If Tuotuo launched a large-scale attack, he should not hesitate to immediately abandon Andong and retreat to Huainan.

Tuotuo is very short of food and supplies now, and he can't afford to waste time. There is no need to fight him head-on at this moment. We just need to avoid the sharp edge temporarily, and walk Tuotuo around like a dog, so that he can use up all his food. Then when he is so hungry that his legs are weak, can't we fight him however we want?
This time, Tuotuo was destined to return empty-handed.
On the 17th day of the twelfth lunar month, the scouts sent by Fu Youde returned to Mangdang Mountain by boat and said that the Yuan army had all retreated to Huaibei. However, the battle in Xuzhou was fierce before, and many people from both the Yuan army and their side died. The Xuzhou defenders also said that Zhima Li died under the city. Fu Youde's head buzzed when he received the news. Although the Yuan army retreated, his lord was dead, and Zhima Li had no descendants. What should he do at this time? How should he develop in the future?

The two thousand soldiers who came back with him also seemed very confused. Seeing this, Fu Youde asked these soldiers to stay in Mangdang Mountain first, and he took a few personal soldiers and immediately returned to Xuzhou by boat to investigate the specific situation.

On the afternoon of the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month, Fu Youde returned to Xuzhou. The defenders of Xuzhou were still like frightened birds, closing the city gates all day long. Even if Fu Youde came back, he had to go through the city gates and close each gate after entering to prevent anyone from following him.

The Xuzhou government office had been set up as a mourning hall, with a coffin in the middle. Inside was only the clothes and hats that Zhima Li had left behind. They didn't even find Zhima Li's body.
In the mourning hall, Mao Gui was keeping vigil for Zhima Li. There was not even a body, and no one knew whether the soul would ever come back. Fu Youde walked to the door, dressed in mourning, and went in to attend the funeral. After burning incense for Zhima Li, he asked Mao Gui what was going on.

Mao Gui said immediately, "Our Xuzhou city defense is impregnable. Tuotuo couldn't take it down, so he turned around to attack the military camp behind. The general is worried that the retreat will be cut off and there will not be enough food and grass in the city. If the Yuan army sieges the city for a long time, the 100,000 soldiers in the city will starve to death.

"So I personally led 30,000 soldiers out of the city to rescue the military camp, and then we were besieged by the main force of Tuotuo. After several days of siege, the military camp could not hold out and was conquered by the Yuan army. The commander was also captured by Tuotuo and taken to the city to force me to open the city and surrender.

"The commander shouted at us to hold on, otherwise Tuotuo would massacre us once the city was opened. Tuotuo was furious and killed the commander on the spot. He then led his troops to attack the city again. Fortunately, I was prepared and was able to repel the Yuan army."

Fu Youde was stunned for a long while, then complained, "Can't you see that Tuotuo wants to besiege the city and attack the reinforcements? Why don't you persuade the commander-in-chief? As long as you hold on in the city for a few more days, I will burn the food and grass of the Yuan army, and then they will surely withdraw, and the siege will be lifted. Why are you so anxious? Really..."

Mao Gui also retorted, "How do you know I didn't persuade you? You are the only one who knows that this is a siege and attack. Doesn't the commander know that? But the commander said that you are a surprise force and we can't put all our hopes on you. You only have 3,000 people and no support. What if you fail to burn the Yuan army's food? We can't just hold on like this and let Deputy Commander Peng get killed and do nothing, right?"

Fu Youde wanted to refute but could not come up with any other reasons. There was no way. This was a dead end. It was entirely determined by the terrain of Xuzhou, and also because they were too indulgent in the first year after the uprising. If they had started preparing for war earlier and built a few new cities at the locations of the later military camps, then Zhima Li would not have to leave the city to rescue Peng Da, and then die together at the hands of the Yuan army.

What were you doing before? What's the point of saying this now?

At this moment, a soldier outside the gate came to report that an envoy of the Shengwu Army had arrived outside the city, saying that he was sent by Lu Jin to pay tribute to Zhima Li.

(End of this chapter)