I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 624: The Panic of the Nanjing Government

Several young men in military uniforms on the boat obviously heard his shout and smiled at Hai Lao San in a friendly manner.
At this time, the artillery batteries on both sides of the Qiantang River finally reacted and hastily fired a few shots, but they all fell on the water surface, stirring up some waves.
Two warships without sails and emitting black smoke sped up to meet them, with dense gun ports on both sides of the warships.
The warship quickly adjusted its position and fired at the artillery batteries on both sides, with dozens of shells landing near the batteries.
The fort at the mouth of the Qiantang River was not large, with only eight guns. The defenders were not determined to fight, and after firing a round of artillery, they hurriedly abandoned the fort and fled.
The huge fleet entered the mouth of Qiantang River as if entering an uninhabited area. The warships headed straight for Hangzhou, and the accompanying sea vessels released countless small boats filled with Northern Army soldiers wearing red uniforms.
The people on both sides of the Qiantang River were all awakened, and after seeing the scene on the river, all sleepiness disappeared.
They stared blankly at the action on the river. Gradually, some people began to show joy on their faces, while others ran directly to the shore and shouted slogans:
"Welcome King Jing, look forward to King Jing, King Jing is here to share the land and grain!"

This slogan startled the Northern Army that was about to land. They looked at the enthusiastic crowd on the shore and then relaxed a lot.
More and more people joined in the shouting.
The landing of the Northern Army did not encounter any resistance, and many local people even helped them land.
Hangzhou was in great chaos, but the city had few defenders and their fighting spirit was not strong. The people inside and outside the city had also changed their minds, so the 50,000 northern troops who landed in the city took it down in one fell swoop.
(Send a map of Nanzhili. The red circles are the Xuzhou front, Nanjing and Hangzhou from top to bottom)

Hangzhou was just one of the points of attack by the Ming navy. This cross-sea attack was unprecedented in scale, with 300,000 naval and land soldiers participating in the attack, including 200,000 land soldiers.
The places that were attacked included Songjiang Prefecture in Nanzhili, Hangzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang, Taizhou Prefecture in Zhejiang, Fuzhou Prefecture in Fujian, and Quanzhou Prefecture in Fujian.

Among them, the largest number of troops were deployed in Songjiang Prefecture in Nanzhili and Hangzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang, with the number of landed troops reaching as many as 120,000.

The news soon reached Nanjing, and Zhu Houcong hurriedly summoned his ministers to discuss the matter.
This news made all the officials explode.
No one expected the Beijing government to suddenly come up with such a move. Cross-sea landing operations are a very rare type of combat in Chinese history, or it can be said that there are basically no such examples.
Because there has never been such a large number of seagoing ships in the Ming Dynasty.
And these ships are under the control of the Beijing government
It's not that there weren't some knowledgeable people who realized this problem before, but they soon gave up because if they wanted to build defenses along the coast, the cost would be too high. There are loopholes everywhere along the coastline of thousands of miles. Do they have to build defenses everywhere? Then the war would be impossible to fight.
Therefore, the Nanjing government can only bury its head in the sand and hope that the Beijing government will not launch a cross-sea attack.
The Beijing government had not launched a single cross-sea landing operation in the past six months, and had not even used naval warships to bombard coastal cities. This had also caused the Nanjing government to gradually let down its guard and only set up defenses at some key points.
But no one expected that the Beijing government was planning something big, and actually deployed hundreds of thousands of people to land at one time.
In fact, the Nanjing government's intelligence capabilities could not confirm that there were hundreds of thousands of people. Officials from all over the country also exaggerated the number of the Northern Army landing. After the news reached the Nanjing government, it became hundreds of thousands. Many people tended to believe that the number of people landing was 300,000 or 400,000.
How could this not make them panic?
Other places were fine, but the landings in Hangzhou and Songjiang were a direct blow to the Nanjing government's vital points.
If we were to say where the most important place for the Nanjing government is, it would definitely be the Yangtze River Delta region.
The Yangtze River Delta region did not become extremely prosperous in modern times. It has been extremely prosperous since the Song Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was the most prosperous place in the country.
Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Songjiang, Yangzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Huzhou are all prosperous commercial cities.
Moreover, it is a gathering place of humanities and is leading the trend of the entire Ming Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, Zhejiang and Nanzhili were not divided into vassal kings because these two places were too rich.
This place was the most important place for Ming Dynasty to earn revenue, and it is also the most important place for Nanjing government to earn revenue now.
It is also the place where the gentry has the greatest influence. Zhu Houcong's most important supporters all came from the Yangtze River Delta region.
Moreover, this cross-sea attack also blocked the transportation of supplies and troops from other provinces to the Nanjing government.
It can be said that the Beijing government's cross-sea attack was extremely steady, accurate and ruthless, just like stabbing the Nanjing government in the chest, even gnawing at the heart.
More importantly, the Nanjing government did not have many available troops here. The soldiers who could fight were all sent to the front line in Xuzhou in the north. The ones left here were some militias trained by local gentry. Their weapons and equipment and training were not very good, and they did not have much combat effectiveness.
Hundreds of thousands of northern troops were able to rampage through Zhejiang and Southern Zhili. The cities along the way could only surrender.
Everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.
"Your Highness! The place attacked by the Northern Army is our heartland. The only solution now is to transfer the troops on the front line of Xuzhou to the south for reinforcement." A minister knelt on the ground and said sadly.

Other ministers also spoke up in support. Many of them were gentry from the Yangtze River Delta region. Now that the Northern Army had directly attacked their hometowns, they were extremely anxious.
"How many troops do we need to transfer back from the front line?" Zhu Houcong had calmed down and said coldly to his ministers.

The minister thought for a moment and said carefully: "If we want to quickly pacify this northern army, we need to transfer at least 500,000 troops back from the front line."

This statement was echoed by many people, and some even thought that 500,000 people were not enough.
"A mobilization of this scale will definitely not be hidden from the Northern Army. What if the Northern Army takes the opportunity to attack?" Zhu Houcong's sneer widened.
this.
Zhu Houcong's question left the ministers present unable to answer, and then they began to discuss again.
"Even if we transfer troops from the front line, it will be like distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. The Xuzhou front line is 600 miles away from Nanjing, and Nanjing is 550 miles away from Hangzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture. The total distance is more than miles. It will take more than days for the army to get back." Zhu Houcong continued.

(End of this chapter)