Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 381 Bargaining
At the beginning of the 13th year of Zhizheng, before even the Spring Festival, the Shengwu Army on the Huaihe River line collectively launched an attack on Huaibei.

The Western Division led by Liao Yongzhong was composed of his own 18th Regiment, Liu Minhua's Independent st Regiment, Yao Qichen's rd Regiment, Fei Ju's th Regiment, and twelve artillery pieces of various sizes, totaling nearly people. They boarded the canal boats and headed west along the Yellow River and Huai River.

Then after arriving in Xuzhou, the troops were divided into two groups. Liao Yongzhong led the main force to continue northward into the canal and advance towards Pei County. The detachment was led by Fei Ju and continued westward along the Huai River, landing in Dangshan County and heading straight for Dangshan. After both sides had taken their targets, they would go together to attack Feng County in the middle, and their mission would be completed.

Such an unusual large-scale troop mobilization was carried out right under the nose of Xuzhou. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Xuzhou defenders could even see it standing on the city wall. Naturally, they were very curious about the actions of the Shengwu Army.

However, they did not act rashly, because Li Xixi, whom the Xuzhou generals had been waiting for, finally led his troops back from their ambush in Jishan.

Li Xixi just came back and happened to see this scene. She was immediately puzzled, "What are they doing? Are they trying to occupy the three counties of Fengpei and Dangshan in Huaibei? But didn't you say that Tuotuo's main force moved to the opposite side of Huai'an and was confronting them? Could it be that the Luzhou soldiers wanted to send a detachment to cut off the retreat of the Yuan army?"

Fu Youde immediately frowned and shook his head, "Cut off the retreat of the Yuan army? I'm afraid that's impossible. Even if they occupy Fengpei and block the canal in Huaibei, Tuotuo still occupies Shuyang. Wouldn't he retreat to Linyi along the Shushui River? There are more than one passage to the north, so what's the point of just blocking the canal?"

Xue Xian said, "The Luzhou soldiers will take advantage of us. They are unwilling to fight a battle that has no benefits. I don't think it's that complicated. They may just want to take advantage of our army retreating back to Huainan and seize the opportunity to occupy the three cities in Huaibei that we lost."

Mao Gui waved his hand and said, "What's the point of saying that now? Even if I ask you to take back Fengpei now, who will go? Even if you take it back, do you still have food to defend the city? When Tuotuo's main force arrives, won't you still have to withdraw? If you can't hold it yourself, don't blame others for taking it.

"Don't worry about that for now. Xixi is back, Li Shuai is gone, and Zhao Jun used that guy to kill Peng Shuai. We have already broken up with that guy. There is a food shortage in Xuzhou now. At most, it is enough for the whole army to eat for four or five months, but it will definitely not last until the summer harvest next year. There will definitely be a famine waiting for us next year. If we don't want to starve to death, we have to find a way.

"Everyone wants to go to General Lu in Jiankang now. He is the only one who has food and can help us. Moreover, they are next to us and are our neighbors. They are also sandwiched between us and Zhao Junyong. If we want to get rid of him, the best way is to get the Luzhou soldiers to act together.

"Also, among all the rebel armies in the world, only the Luzhou troops fought well last year. They have occupied the Huaiyang Salt Field and the granary of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. General Lu has hundreds of thousands of soldiers. If we join him, at least we brothers won't have to worry about food.

"Now that everyone has expressed their opinions, the only one left is you, Xixi. What do you think? Come up with an idea as well."

Li Xixi said without thinking, "Since General Li and General Peng are gone, and you are planning to surrender to Luzhou, I only have 3,000 soldiers. I can surrender to anyone, whether it's someone with the surname Lu or Liu Futong. You have more soldiers, so I will listen to you. If you go to Luzhou, then I will go too. At least I will have some acquaintances there, and we can take care of each other."

Everyone nodded when they heard this. They thought so too. After all, Lu Jin's family was wealthy and powerful. If they went there alone, people wouldn't remember who they were. But if they went there together, the situation would naturally be different. They would definitely have a place there.

Mao Gui saw that everyone had the same attitude, so he immediately said, "Then let's send one or two people to contact and discuss. And we can't send ordinary people, otherwise it will seem that we are insincere and have no weight. It will be troublesome if we can't make the decision when the time comes. It's best for one or two of us to go. Who will go?"

Everyone looked at each other when they heard this, but this time no one spoke.

Mao Gui silently glanced at everyone. The six generals who still had influence here were Xue Xian, Peng Zaozhu, Fu Youde, Li Xixi, Cheng Liangbi, and himself.

Among them, Cheng Liangbi and Li Xixi just followed the crowd and went wherever everyone went. Xue Xian and Peng Zaozhu were both from Peng Da's faction, so they could be considered to be together. The remaining Fu Youde and Mao Gui were generals under Li Er's command, so they could be considered to be from the same faction. It is quite simple to look at it this way.

Seeing that no one was talking, Mao Gui immediately said, "Since no one is talking, I will select people. Let Zaozhu and Youde go together. Youde will represent everyone to discuss the issue of how to surrender, and Zaozhu will tell them to send troops to help Peng Shuai get revenge."

"Row."

"I agree."

"Then let them both go."

Mao Gui picked one person from each of the two main factions as a representative, which immediately won unanimous approval from everyone.

Fu Youde was not afraid of the situation. Seeing this, he immediately asked, "Since you want me to negotiate, you all have to tell me what conditions you are satisfied with. Don't let me negotiate with the other side, but you are not satisfied and want to leave. That would be embarrassing and both sides would be unable to explain."

Xue Xian heard this and said, "I don't want much, as long as I can be on an equal footing with the Luzhou army, I should have what they have. I don't want to be someone's concubine and have to kowtow and call everyone I see a little bit of me. There's no point in going there.

"As long as we can be on equal footing with the Luzhou generals, then I, Old Xue, will have nothing to say. We will also serve him in battle."

"Yes, we don't want any special high position or generous salary. As long as we can be treated equally with the Luzhou military generals and have the same food, clothing and other expenses as them, we will work hard for him." Li Xixi also immediately echoed his agreement.

The others all nodded, and Fu Youde said, "That's settled. I'll try my best to get more benefits for everyone, at least not worse than those Luzhou soldiers."

After the Xuzhou generals discussed the result, Fu Youde didn't want to wait any longer, so he immediately took Peng Zaozhu and a hundred guards to Qinghe. When he arrived in Qinghe, he found something wrong here.

The general defending the city was named Du Hei'er. He was wearing a set of captured Yuan army armor. He behaved casually and spoke without any rules, just like a bandit. He did not look like a regular soldier at first glance, at least not the elite of the Shengwu Army.

Fu Youde had seen the true elite of the Shengwu Army. He had been on previous missions to seek trade with them. They were good soldiers, who obeyed orders and were very methodical in their words and actions. How could these people before him be compared to him?
It seems that the main force of the Shengwu Army is not here. Maybe they all went to Huaibei? But what happened in Huaibei?
After finding Du Hei'er to pass the message, Fu Youde did not directly state the purpose of his visit. He only said that he was on a diplomatic mission and wanted to visit General Lu in Jiankang. He also asked Du Hei'er to deliver a letter to the chief on his behalf, and he would be allowed to pass when the time came. So Du Hei'er sent someone to hand the letter to Gao Yao who was in Huai'an.

The letter directly stated the purpose of the letter. The generals in Xuzhou wanted to submit to Lu Jin, and had specially sent someone to discuss the issue of treatment. This news shocked Gao Yao so much that he did not dare to neglect it and personally sent someone to meet him.

After leading Fu Youde and his party to Huai'an, Gao Yao detained most of the soldiers and only allowed them to take ten guards. He also sent a company of soldiers to escort them further south.

Fu Youde went south along the canal, observing as he went, but found that the defenses in the area north of the Yangtze River were very "empty". Huai'an, such an important city, was guarded by only a few thousand unarmored soldiers, which did not look like a main force at all. The same was true for Baoying behind him. It was not until he arrived in Gaoyou that he finally saw "heavy troops".

There is only one division of Bian Yuanheng here, but it has six regiments and nearly 30,000 people. It is almost the same as the military strength of Xuzhou. However, there are still few soldiers wearing armor, and it is obvious that they are not the main force of the Shengwu Army.

Luzhou is rich in armor, and can even sell it to them, but now there are new recruits without armor everywhere. It is conceivable how much troops Lu Jin has expanded in the past six months. If he is given time to arm all these new recruits, it is unimaginable how strong their combat power will be.

But he was also very curious, where did Zhu Liangzu's main force go?

It was not until he met Feng Guoyong who was heading north in the south of Gaoyou that Fu Youde saw that Feng Guoyong was surrounded by nearly a thousand musketeers as guards, and he knew that he was no ordinary person. Musketeers were also a high-level military force in the Shengwu Army. How could someone who could receive such guards be ordinary? So he immediately took the initiative to go up and say hello.

After explaining his identity and purpose, Feng Guoyong was immediately surprised and asked, "Xuzhou wanted to surrender to our army, and Zhao Junyong even fought with you?"

"That's right. This is General Peng's eldest son, Peng Zaozhu. He came here this time to ask General Lu to send troops to help us get revenge." Fu Youde said immediately.

Feng Guoyong patted Peng Zaozhu's shoulder and said, "Then just go straight ahead. If the Marshal learns of this, he will definitely not sit idly by. Zhao Junyong fought against the rebels and deserves to be killed!"

"Thank you for your guidance, sir. I may ask what position you hold in the Marshal's Mansion?" Fu Youde asked tentatively.

Feng Guoyong straightened his back immediately. "I am the director of the Military and Political Department of the Military Academy. I am in charge of the military registration and transfer of generals. I am also the secretary of the General's Office. You won't understand what I am saying. Just treat me as the one who knows the affairs of the Privy Council."

Fu Youde looked at him in shock. Feng Guoyong was only 28 years old this year, still very young, and very burly. He looked like a military general, but wore a round-collared robe of a civil official. He did not expect that he had become the Prime Minister at such a young age. The Privy Council and the Secretariat in the Song Dynasty were collectively known as the East and West Palaces, and the heads of the two palaces were commonly known as the Prime Ministers of the Two Palaces. The Secretariat was in charge of politics, and the Privy Council was in charge of the military. Therefore, the person who could take charge of the Privy Council was called the Prime Minister or the Military Prime Minister.

Upon hearing this, Fu Youde did not dare to neglect it, and hurriedly bowed again and said, "So it's Shuxiang, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened in Huaibei when Shuxiang Feng went north this time?" Feng Guoyong raised his eyebrows, "You didn't know in Xuzhou? Forget it, wait until you see the Marshal and ask him yourself."

"Well, that's fine. I won't bother you any more. Have a nice trip, my husband."

After saying goodbye to Feng Guoyong, Fu Youde felt more and more that there were major changes in Huaibei, which should be related to Zhu Liangzu's main force heading north. Could it be that they had freed up their hands after fighting in Jiangsu and Zhejiang? Were they ready to fight Tuotuo's main force of the Yuan army? But he didn't see any main force from Jiangnan heading north to reinforce them?

With a lot of questions in mind, Fu Youde and Peng Zaozhu finally arrived at Jiankang City. As a result, he found that the number of troops in Jiankang was not large, only about 10,000 soldiers. But this is the capital of Lu Jin. Are these soldiers too few? Or did the main force go to fight in eastern Zhejiang and have not returned yet?

The two were led to the Marshal's Mansion and waited for half an hour before they were finally brought to meet Lu Jin. Xia Yu, Bao Yu, Li Shanchang and others were also present.

Fu Youde was not the kind of rough and stupid warrior. He was quite capable of dealing with things. After the meeting, he started to establish a relationship by talking about the friendly neighborliness between the two families and the sharing of what they had. Lu Jin also reminded them to build a city for defense and to make cannons. Without Lu Jin's help, they would never be able to hold on to Xuzhou.

However, this time Tuotuo came with great force. Although they held on, they were not well prepared. Li Er died under the city, and Peng Da temporarily took refuge in Suzhou, but he unexpectedly died at the hands of Zhao Junyong.

I would also like to thank Coach Lu for the reminder in the letter. It’s a pity that Peng Da didn’t see the letter, otherwise he wouldn’t have died tragically.

At this point, Peng Zaozhu's eyes turned red, and he immediately bowed and said, "Please help me avenge my father's death. As long as you can kill Zhao Junyong, I will serve you wholeheartedly from now on."

Seeing this, Lu Jin immediately stepped forward, personally helped him up, and comforted him, "You are so young and have such ambition and determination, so why worry about not being able to avenge your father?"

Patting his shoulder, Lu Jin looked at Fu Youde again, "So what are your plans now?"

Fu Youde immediately told the truth, "We are currently short of food. Xuzhou's food and grass are only enough to sustain us for about four months. If there is no food, then we will have no choice but to flee. Even if we plant crops in the spring next year, we will never be able to make it to the next summer harvest. A famine is imminent.

“When I came from Xuzhou, the general’s soldiers had already occupied the three counties of Fengpei and Dangshan in the north of the Huai River. Now we are blocked in the north, the general’s city in the east, Liu Futong’s city in the west, and Zhao Junyong’s city in the south. We are now at a dead end.

"We have discussed it and found that among all the rebel armies, General Lu is the most benevolent and righteous. He has taken good care of us in the past. So we would like to bring all the soldiers in the city to join General Lu. We hope that General Lu will take us in and provide us with some food to help us through this difficult time."

Lu Jin did not make any comment, and asked, "How many troops do you have now, how many cities, and how many generals do you have?"

Fu Youde said immediately, "Although we suffered heavy losses in resisting Tuotuo this time, we still have the five cities of Xuzhou, Xiaoxian, Xiayi (Xiayi), Yongcheng, and Suining in our hands. The total strength of Xuzhou plus the troops of other cities is more than 41,000 soldiers, and there are 40,000 young and strong civilians.

"There are currently six generals capable of commanding the army: me, Mao Gui, Xue Xian, Peng Zaozhu, Li Xixi, and Cheng Liangbi."

Lu Jin nodded. What a bullshit Wanhu. He just thought so when he heard it. The Wanhu in the Red Turban Army was worthless. Some soldiers with one or two hundred dared to be called Qianhu, and some with a thousand dared to be called Wanhu. The military position was very empty, so he didn't take it seriously. The key point was how many troops Xuzhou had now.

Then he asked, "What about Zhao Junyong?"

Fu Youde introduced again, "Zhao Junyong has six cities, Suzhou, Mengcheng, Lingbi, Hongxian (Sixian), Xuyi, and Wuhe. The total force before the war was about 30,000. After this fight and the breakup with us, whether he has expanded his army and prepared for war, we don't know.

"Moreover, his 30,000 troops are deployed in a similar manner to ours. The main force is all in Suzhou, with about 20,000 men. The other cities have only a few thousand and a few thousand troops, and none of them are elite."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin and Li Shanchang looked at each other. Bao Yu and Xia Yu also looked at each other. This time, they had gathered more than 100,000 scattered Yuan troops, including Fu Youde, Mao Gui, and Zhao Junyong's side. The two sides had a total of about 70,000 troops, which added up to 200,000 troops. To expand by 200,000 troops in such a short time was too outrageous.

Lu Jin now finally understood why Zhu Yuanzhang was able to wage war on three or even four fronts at the same time when he founded the country, and how the millions of troops in the early Ming Dynasty came from. The number of surrendered soldiers and generals gathered after the victory alone added up to millions.

Zhuge Liang himself had hundreds of thousands of troops, Zhang Shicheng had hundreds of thousands of troops, Chen Youliang had hundreds of thousands of troops, and there were also the Yuan army and the rebel army in the north. The total number of troops was definitely over one million.

When these people surrendered to you, you couldn't just disband them. Later, most of these surrendered soldiers were made into military households in the garrisons by Zhu Yuanzhang and were allowed to farm on their own. Only the core veterans who had followed him to conquer the world were used as elite field troops.

If the expansion continues like this, I'm afraid Lu Jin will have no choice but to follow suit, reorganizing some production and construction corps and sending those surrendered soldiers to the border to farm.

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, "I can take you in, and food is not a problem, but since you are willing to come to me, I'll make it clear that when you come to me, you have to abide by my rules.

"In my place, civil officials are civil officials, and military generals are military generals. There is no practice of Pingzhang leading the army like the Tartars. Military generals are not allowed to interfere in local government affairs. If you are willing to come, you can only choose one thing: if you are a civil official, you cannot interfere in military affairs. If you want to lead troops, don't interfere in government affairs. Can you do this?"

Fu Youde immediately clasped his hands and said, "Don't worry, Marshal. Although we are somewhat literate, we are not good at writing. We know we don't have the ability to be civil officials, so we are willing to be military generals."

Seeing that he agreed readily, Lu Jin nodded and said, "In our army, there is a dual-chief system. Each general must be assigned a training officer of the same level, who is in charge of military law, logistics and food, intelligence gathering, internal counter-espionage, military merit evaluation, military morale, and the right to mobilize troops. Without the consent of the training officer, the commander cannot mobilize the army. If you come to surrender, you must also be assigned according to this rule. Can you accept it?"

Fu Youde frowned upon hearing this, and after hesitating for a while, he asked, "Isn't this the military supervisor? But what if the military supervisor causes trouble? Although I haven't read many books, I have heard of stories in dramas where treacherous officials made random commands and caused the army to be defeated.

"And didn't the Marshal just say that civil officials should be civil officials and military officials should be military officials, and they should not interfere with each other? But now he wants to place a military supervisor in the army. This..."

Lu Jin immediately explained, "Although the training officers in our army have the power to supervise the army, they are different from the military supervisors in previous dynasties. In the past, those military supervisors only urged the troops to advance, and the victory or defeat of the battle had nothing to do with them. The commander was solely responsible. But in my army, the training officers and the commander will share the responsibility. If the training officers make trouble and cause a defeat, the training officers will also be punished, and no one can escape.

"Moreover, they cannot be transferred to political positions. Once they become training officers, they can only serve in the military for the rest of their lives and follow the commander in promotion and transfer. The two of them will rise and fall together. If you can't win, he won't be promoted either. This way, they won't cause trouble for the commander, and the two of them will just work together to lead the troops better."

Fu Youde was thinking about the differences between the two, and didn't respond for a long while. Seeing this, Lu Jin said, "This is the arrangement for all our troops, whether they are the Yuan Congzhi troops who started the rebellion with me in Chaohu, or those who defected later, or those who surrendered. If you don't agree, I'm afraid I can't help you."

Upon hearing this, Fu Youde clasped his fists and said, "Then I'll leave it to the commander-in-chief. However, we have brought 40,000 soldiers and five cities to surrender. I wonder what position the commander-in-chief can give us?"

Lu Jin immediately asked again, "Have you heard of our military system?"

"Have heard a little bit."

Lu Jin then said, "You all want to be military commanders, so we will reorganize them according to our military system. A division of our army has 13500 people, and more than people can be organized into three divisions. I can give you six generals three major generals to command divisions and three deputy generals. You can decide who will be the chief commander and who will be the deputy commander."

Fu Youde frowned, "I heard that in the Marshal's army, there is a corps-level position above the commander-in-chief. Two divisions are enough to form an army, right? Can we give them two more military positions as the chief and deputy chief officers?"

Hearing this, Lu Jin immediately laughed and said, "You have inquired clearly. Yes, there is a military commander above, but you only have three divisions and six generals, but you can only organize a half army. Who should be given the position of chief military commander and deputy chief military commander? Can you allocate it among yourselves?"

Fu Youde immediately retorted, "No, we can still organize a division. If we have four divisions, we can organize two armies with four chief and deputy chief military commanders. Marshal, don't forget the 30,000 people Zhao Junyong has. As long as you send troops to put pressure on Suzhou, we can persuade the other cities to surrender. They will definitely surrender immediately. They are also our soldiers."

(End of this chapter)