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

Chapter 626 Zhu Houcong's Decision
Xu Pengju and Guo Xun planned to drag it out, but imperial edicts from Nanjing were transmitted to the Xuzhou front one after another, and along with the imperial edicts came golden medals.

In just three days, Xu Pengju and Guo Xun received thirteen imperial edicts and gold medals, all of which ordered them to attack with all their might.
Even though they were prepared, seeing so many imperial edicts and gold medals still made their scalps tingle.
They had no choice but to write a memorial overnight, explaining the difficulties they faced, such as insufficient number of soldiers, insufficient training, shortage of artillery, etc. However, after receiving this memorial, Zhu Houcong felt that it was all excuses and thought that they were trying to avoid fighting.
"Your Highness, do you want to replace the two generals on the front line?" Yan Song said, trying to guess what Zhu Houcong was thinking.

"If we replace them, who will take their place?" Zhu Houcong said.

Yan Song thought about it carefully and found that he really couldn't think of a suitable candidate. The South was already short of military talents, let alone a general who could command a million troops.
"Then what should we do?" Yan Song asked helplessly.

Zhu Houcong paced in the hall and suddenly said, "I want to go to the front line to fight in person!"

"How could Your Highness have such an idea? Absolutely not!" Yan Song said in horror.

"Why not? Such a great opportunity cannot be wasted! Since the two generals on the front line disobey orders, I will go to the front line in person and give them instructions! At the same time, I will also boost the morale of the soldiers!" Zhu Houcong said bluntly.

"But the front line is dangerous, Your Highness should go to the front line," Yan Song subconsciously tried to persuade Zhu Houcong.

"What's so dangerous about the front line? There are 1.5 million loyal and brave soldiers on the front line! It is the safest place!" Zhu Houcong said immediately.

"Then what about Nanjing? Nanjing still needs Your Highness to be in charge!" Yan Song advised again.

"What's the point of sitting in Nanjing? The real direction of the world is still determined by the front line in Xuzhou. If the front line in Xuzhou fails, it will be useless for me to sit in Nanjing!" Zhu Houcong continued. Yan Song was speechless and dared not persuade him anymore.
Zhu Houcong pondered for a while, then began to write on a piece of paper. After a while, he finished writing a letter.
"This is my handwritten letter to King Ning. Send someone to deliver it to Wuchang at an emergency speed of 800 miles!" Zhu Houcong said.

Yan Song immediately took the order and left
Zhu Houcong did not encounter much resistance to his wish to go to the front line. Many ministers appreciated his decision and believed that it was a very heroic decision. Such a heroic leader was needed at this time.

So Zhu Houcong set out on the journey north one day later.

At this time, in Wuchang, 1100 miles away from Nanjing, Prince Ning had just received a handwritten letter from Zhu Houcong, in which Zhu Houcong explained his inference and decision, and invited Prince Ning to go to the front line to boost morale and launch an attack at the same time.
After reading the letter, King Ning immediately decided to go to the front line in person.
At the same time, the situation in Nanzhili, Zhejiang and Fujian also began to change.

The decision of Nanjing was quickly passed to these three places, and the officials and gentry of the three places immediately retreated and held on according to the decision of Nanjing.
Countless gentry took their property and fled to nearby cities, and many gentry secretly embroidered red flags, preparing to do the two-faced thing.
The Northern Army generals who landed immediately noticed the unusual movement, and they soon realized the Nanjing government's intentions.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with the Nanjing government's decision, because the most powerful siege weapon of that era is the artillery, but the current artillery technology has limited destructive effect on rammed earth walls, and it takes a lot of artillery bombardment to capture a city.

The current equipment of the Northern Army was not suitable for city-climbing operations, so there was nothing wrong with the Nanjing government's decision, because every southern city that the Northern Army wanted to capture would take some time and effort.
Faced with the Nanjing government's coping method, the landing Northern Army decided after several discussions not to attack the city, but to bypass these strong cities and advance quickly to the vast countryside to start the Nanjing government's exploitation and the ordinary people who were dissatisfied with the Nanjing government.
In short, the tactics of the Northern Army were very simple, which was to "surround the cities from the countryside".
This was actually one of the contingency plans before the Northern Army landed. The gentry rushed to flee to nearby cities to avoid the Northern Army's front. This seemed to be no problem, but the gentry were an important force for the Nanjing government to maintain civil order. The gentry's escape was equivalent to directly giving up control over the people and handing over the control of the people directly to the Northern Army.
Faced with this situation, the landing Northern Army was naturally not polite at all. In their plan, they had already planned to mobilize the people in the South, and now they were also mobilizing the people in the South on a large scale. As a result, the Nanjing government directly added more strength and completely handed over the control of the people to the Northern Army.
The Northern Army's rapid advance without regard for the cities along the way stunned the Nanjing government and the gentry in the three places. In their view, the Northern Army's attack was completely unethical and a shameless sneak attack.
According to the logic of normal warfare, it is unwise for an army to abandon the cities along the way and keep advancing, because the bypassed cities will threaten the army's logistics line. This is why few people in history have adopted this tactic.

However, the current situation is that the Northern Army used this tactic, which made the officials and gentry in the three places helpless, because they basically had no troops that could go to the field to threaten the Northern Army's logistics line.
Because the landing was too sudden, the soldiers they had were not well trained and equipped, and they were not even strong enough to defend the city, let alone fight outside the city.
Moreover, although the Northern Army was a Northern Army, according to the previous saying, "Southern ships and Northern horses", this Northern Army was better at maneuvering boats than the Southerners. The various small ships of the Northern Navy made use of the dense rivers in the South and achieved rapid response and rapid maneuvering with the support of the Southern people. Even if there were Southern Army troops who dared to go out of the city to attack the logistics supply lines, they would soon be surrounded by the Northern Army.
The Union Army maintained its logistics line with very little effort.
Moreover, the pressure on the logistics line of the Northern Army was not that great. Generally, the most labor-consuming part of logistics was food, but the Northern Army could usually get food directly from the homes of local gentry. Although the local gentry fled to nearby cities, a large amount of food could not be transported into the city in time, and only a very small amount could be determined to be burned, so the Northern Army got a bargain.
"Welcome King Jing, look forward to King Jing, King Jing is here to share the land and grain!"

This slogan was extremely inflammatory in the South, and the people in the three places suffered greatly from the Nanjing government, so they were more inclined to support the Northern Army.
All this made the landing of the Northern Army seem like strolling in the garden. They did not encounter any decent resistance and were advancing at the speed of marching every day.
(End of this chapter)