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

Chapter 627: Battle of the Three Kings (I)

Just when Zhu Houcong arrived at the front line, the vanguard of the Northern Army had already arrived outside the city of Nanjing. Behind them, the entire Zhejiang Province had been controlled by the Northern Army. Countless Zhejiang people made a choice and chose to support the Beijing government.

The Northern Army that landed even began to expand its army on the spot. Countless Zhejiang people enthusiastically joined the army. The size of the Northern Army that landed doubled in a short period of time. Although the combat effectiveness of the newly expanded army was questionable, the momentum of the entire army was completely raised.
Zhu Houcong waited for a day at the front line, and Prince Ning also rushed to the front line, and at the same time, there were reports of the situation in Zhejiang and Nanzhili.
This made Zhu Houcong even more anxious.
Zhu Houcong and Prince Ning met surrounded by heavy troops. After some consideration, Zhu Houcong did not hide the situation in Zhejiang and Nanzhili from Prince Ning, hoping that Prince Ning could work together and make good use of this opportunity to make a breakthrough in one fell swoop.

Faced with the situation in Zhejiang and Nanzhili, King Ning was secretly happy but also secretly frightened. After thinking it over for a while, he decided to fully support the campaign launched by Zhu Houcong.

Because in his opinion, doing so will only benefit him and not harm him.

After both sides agreed on the date of the attack, they returned to their respective places, and Zhu Houcong's carriage went directly to the Xuzhou camp.

Xu Pengju and Guo Xun were troubled by the aggressive Zhu Houcong and were unable to stop him.

In fact, Zhu Houcong was not good at military affairs. Xu Pengju and Guo Xun explained a lot of things to him in an attempt to persuade him, but he only understood half of it. He was not as talented in military affairs as he was in politics. However, at this time, he was already in a difficult situation and no one could persuade him.
In fact, from some perspectives, Zhu Houcong's view is not wrong. Judging from the data on paper, the overall strength of the Southern Army is greatly superior to that of the Northern Army. If you give him so many non-literal and difficult-to-quantify data to prove that the Southern Army is now at a disadvantage, Zhu Houcong will definitely not listen.
Therefore, facing the powerful Zhu Houcong, Xu Pengju and Guo Xun had no choice but to start various deployments before the attack.
In fact, they were also shaken after learning about the situation in Zhejiang and Nanzhili. Their original idea was to gather more strength and make more preparations before launching an attack, but under this situation, the strength of the Southern Army could no longer be increased, and they did not have much time left. Now was the time when the Southern Army was the strongest, so they had to fight to the death.
A train slowly stopped at a simple temporary platform.

Officers stood in neat rows on the platform, with stars shining on their shoulders.

Zhu Houxuan slowly walked out of the special train. The officers who came to greet him saluted him in unison. Zhu Houxuan smiled and waved to the people who came to greet him.

After a simple welcome ceremony, Zhu Houxuan randomly selected several military camps for inspection and had a brief chat with the soldiers inside. He had a basic understanding of the situation of the frontline soldiers. Generally speaking, it was similar to what he saw in the report, so he was still very satisfied with the frontline generals and logistics work.
After half a year of confrontation on the front line, the soldiers' morale is still high and the logistical supplies are sufficient.
Zhu Houxuan came to the army's headquarters with this satisfaction and listened to the reports from the frontline generals.
"The enemy has been mobilizing frequently recently. It seems that they are preparing to launch an attack. The scout battle has suddenly become fierce. Combined with the fact that they have suddenly raised the flags of Prince Xing and Prince Ning, it seems that the Southern Army is about to launch an attack." Chief of Staff Zhuang Jiye explained excitedly. Zhu Houxuan smiled and nodded and said, "You all know about the results of the navy. The results are unexpectedly great and the advancement speed is unexpectedly fast. The Southern Army must also take action. They have to take action. If they don't take action, their strength will become weaker and weaker, and finally they will completely lose the opportunity to take action."

"Your Highness is extremely resourceful. The Southern Army is indeed going to attack us at the time and place we scheduled," Zhuang Jiye said excitedly. He has never forgotten the meeting a few months ago, and now the contents of that meeting will all come true in the near future.
Zhu Houxuan waved his hand casually and said with a smile: "Now the time, location and people are all on our side, so I will trouble you generals to win this victory for the Ming Dynasty."

The generals in the room immediately patted their chests and guaranteed victory.

Zhu Houxuan hesitated for a moment and said, "Since Prince Xing and Prince Ning have both raised their flags, let each unit raise my flag as well!"

"That's great! The soldiers' morale will surely be boosted when they learn that His Royal Highness the Regent is coming to the front line in person." A general said excitedly.

Zhu Houxuan nodded gently and continued: "Not only that, I also brought the late emperor's banner. I hope you can work together to defeat the enemy under the late emperor's banner!"

Zhu Houxuan's words startled everyone present, and many people's eyes immediately turned red. They had basically followed Zhu Houzhao in his battles to reach their current position, and were deeply indebted to him. Zhu Houxuan's move directly moved them.
"It's been eight years! The last time we fought under this banner was eight years ago!" Jiang Jiangong said excitedly, "Thank you, Your Highness, for giving us this opportunity to fight under the banner of the late emperor. We will surely march forward courageously and achieve complete victory to comfort your Majesty's spirit in heaven."

Jiang Jiangong's words resonated with many people, and they all issued military orders.
After the open rebellion in the south, the cause of Zhu Houzhao's death was no longer a secret and was announced by Zhu Houxuan, which immediately aroused the indignation of everyone in the north and constantly inspired the fighting spirit of the soldiers.
In fact, the great banner of the Ming Emperor was passed down from generation to generation, and there was no saying that it belonged to any particular emperor. Strictly speaking, this great banner now belongs to the current Emperor of the Republic, but Zhu Houxuan simply ignored the Emperor of the Republic and directly said that it was the great banner of Zhu Houzhao, which really achieved a very good effect.

After the meeting was over, the generals attending the meeting saw the familiar banner fluttering in the wind above their heads.
Many people burst into tears immediately and ran to the position of the banner and knelt down to pay their respects.
In fact, in the round of military reforms presided over by Zhu Houxuan, any form of kneeling ceremony had been abolished in the army, but these generals who had followed Zhu Houzhao in his campaigns still used this etiquette to express their respect for Zhu Houzhao.
In various places where this banner can be seen, many people cannot leave due to their duties and can only express their respect in similar ways.
(End of this chapter)