Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 134: The Troops Arrive at the Gate of Jingzhou
After Zhu Cilang and the other generals of Zuozhen gave double guarantees on the righteousness of the Chinese and barbarians and military supplies and food, the generals of the rebel army, led by Tian Jianxiu, Liu Tichun, Liu Fangliang and Yuan Zongde, finally let down their guard.

After all, at this time, they had no better way out. Once the two troops under Hao Yongzhong and Wang Jincai broke away or even defected, it would be a question whether they could survive and go north.

Zhu Cilang personally led an army of tens of thousands to come and persuade the rebels, which was obviously a demonstration. However, as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the ruler of a country, his methods were quite gentle. He did not make those hasty, naked threats that were unbecoming of a king.

But people like Tian Jianxiu, Liu Tichun, Liu Fangliang, and Yuan Zongdi were all veterans who had seen countless people. They had no doubt that if they turned against each other, the elegant and gentle young Emperor Ming would kill them all without hesitation.

At this time, the benefits of Zhu Cilang's personal visit to pacify the rebels were evident.

If he sent a minister to appease them, there would always be an irreconcilable family feud between him and the soldiers of the rebel army. Whether these soldiers would obey his orders as the emperor would always depend on the mediation of the minister who was responsible for appeasement.

Not only that, there will be countless ministers in the court who want to share the king's worries, and impeachment memorials will pile up on Zhu Cilang's desk like snowflakes.

Leaving aside other people, even Lu Zhenfei, who Zhu Cilang was about to entrust with an important task and promote to the cabinet, was the same. He had always opposed Zhu Cilang's plan to pacify the remaining troops of the Chuang army.

But he was just a minister after all. Under the Ming Dynasty system, he was helpless in the face of a young and promising king whose prestige was at its peak!
Of course, what Zhu Cilang values ​​most is actually military power. He must bring all these soldiers under his command to ensure control over the powerful army.

But if he did not come in person to pacify them, why would these battle-hardened generals and tens of thousands of soldiers recognize him as the new emperor?
Zhu Cilang knew very well that the most effective way to establish prestige in the army and convince the generals, besides paying them salaries and food, was to lead them to victory!
Therefore, when the Gao family gave in and Tian Jianxiu, Liu Tichun, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongde and others were formally surrendered, Zhu Cilang was determined to successfully recruit Li Guo, Gao Yigong, and the tens of thousands of soldiers under their command, and his attention was also focused on how to capture Jingzhou City.

However, he was not in a hurry to lead his troops north, nor did he ask the various units of the rebel army to immediately count their troops. Instead, he ordered each camp to select elite troops and immediately follow him north as soon as the cannons arrived.

This is the key to quickly breaking through the important military town of Jingzhou. Without twenty or thirty thousand-jin heavy artillery, it would be a fantasy to want to break the city with only soldiers and shield carts.

Zhu Cilang already had a complete plan in mind for the placement of various units of the Chuang army, and he was very confident about recruiting the remaining Chuang army this time.

After all, in history, He Tengjiao and Du Yinxi were able to successfully recruit these troops under the banner of the Ming court when they were short of soldiers and food. Now he is well prepared, and things are completely logical. With a little push, everything will come to fruition.

In Zhu Cilang's plan, Li Guo and Gao Yigong were his most important targets for appeasement. He not only needed them to seize Jingzhou City and connect it with Kuidong and Chongqing, but he also needed them to maintain a complete field army that could be dispatched to Xiangyang at any time, in the western part of Huguang, to hinder the main force of the Qing army that would move south in the future.

In this way, the main force of the Qing army would not be able to fully attack Yuezhou and Jiujiang. Zhu Cilang could also take advantage of the opportunity of the Qing army's division of forces, mobilize troops on the inside, form a local battlefield advantage, and then seek a counterattack.

This is a key link in the Ming Dynasty's overall strategic arrangement against the Qing Dynasty in the future period. Zhu Cilang's current strength is not enough to launch an active attack. He needs to focus on guarding against the main force of the Qing army moving south again.

As for the main force of the Shun Army in the east, except for Hao Yongzhong who was left to assist Du Yinxi and Liu Tichun in defending Yuezhou, a group of generals including Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongde, Wu Ruyi, Zhang Nai, and Dang Shousu, Zhu Cilang would be incorporated into the left army of the Palace Army as the backbone of this new army.

His current strength is not enough to absorb Li Guo and Gao Yigong's field army of nearly 30,000 soldiers, but these generals in the east who have been broken up and have no subordinates to each other are much easier to control.

Hao Yongzhong and Liu Tichun have extremely high prestige among their respective troops. They are the targets that Zhu Cilang needs to win over. Moreover, both of them were originally only middle-level leaders of the Chuang army and most urgently need recognition from the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Jincai, like Zuo Menggeng, was considered a lucky charm by Zhu Cilang. His troops were collected and he was placed in the Beijing camp to receive salaries. When the time came, he would be transferred to the south to be a prefect, and that would be a good end for him!
The high-ranking generals of the Chuang Army were the targets that Zhu Cilang needed to suppress secretly and strengthen his control over. He could not ensure that these people were loyal.

Of course, corresponding to this, the Right Army of the Palace was also being formed, based on the Fengyang Battalion led by Chen Fu, and composed of local garrison troops and civilians who had experienced the "Fengyang Defense War".

After being repaired by Zhu Cilang, the Ming Dynasty's state machine is now running at full speed and accumulating strength. During the time he visited Jiangxi and Huguang, the various armies stationed in the south of the Yangtze River never stopped recovering and expanding.

Two days later, with the news that 25 thousand-jin heavy cannons and 37 medium-sized cannons transferred from northern Jiangxi were loaded into ships in Liling and arrived in Xiangtan, Zhu Cilang immediately ordered the army to set off and head to Changsha to load the ships.

The Palace Army under Zhu Cilang, the five battalions of the Left Town, and the elite troops selected from each battalion of the Chuang Army, totaling more than 27,000 troops, were all included in the army sequence heading north.

For such a large-scale operation, it is naturally most convenient to travel by water, especially since Zhu Cilang also needs to transport a large number of artillery and supplies. He does not want to conscript a large number of civilians and disrupt the original production of Changsha and Yuezhou prefectures.

"Woo, woo, woo~~~~"

Early the next morning, the bugle call for leaving the camp sounded, and the soldiers who had already assembled set out to the sound of the bugle calls. Teams of soldiers flowed out of the gates of each camp like black streams.

During this process, the Palace Army once again demonstrated a military appearance far superior to that of the Zuozhen and Chuangying armies. Zhu Cilang led them in a strict formation in the center of the army, heading towards Changsha City, a hundred miles away.

At the same time, the cavalry and scouts serving as the vanguard of the army had already set off.

They were responsible for scouting the front lines, blocking enemy cavalry attacks, and covering the marching army. At the same time, they also had to indicate the specific route for the marching army and plant flags at regular intervals to provide guidance.

Not only that, whenever they encountered rivers or hills, the cavalry serving as the vanguard would raise small black and blue square flags in conspicuous places beside the river and on the ridge. The black flag represented a swamp or river ahead, and the blue flag represented mountain obstacles.

These are all flag signals clearly stipulated in military books. The military discipline and law of the Palace Army have extremely strict and detailed regulations for "marching". If they encounter high mountains and canyons, mountain obstacles, rivers, or enemy raids, flags of different colors will be raised to notify.

Zuo Menggeng, Ma Jinzhong, Jin Shenghuan and other generals of the Left Town were naturally not surprised by this. They were even quite proud when they saw the surprised expressions of Tian Jianxiu and others, as if they were the ones who had made the army look neat.

In fact, the elite soldiers of the old camp of the Chuang Army were able to obey orders after Li Zicheng's purge, but their organization was incomplete, and their weapons, armor, uniforms and flags were not well replenished. Their troops were also put together temporarily, and their appearance during the march was naturally no match for the Palace Army.

Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi, Liu Tichun, Hao Yongzhong and others rode their horses on the side of their troops. In front of them was the Palace Army led by Zhu Cilang himself. The dense marching formations and dense weapons blocked their sight. The entire plain was filled with the chaotic sounds of footsteps and horse hooves.

These sounds kept hitting their eardrums, making them unable to help but look up secretly. When they looked up, they saw the soldiers of the Palace Army holding their heads high and chests puffed out, marching forward, giving people a solemn and terrifying feeling.

Half an hour later, all the armies had left the camp outside Liuyang City. The neat military formations marched towards Changsha City in the west to the rhythmic sound of drums and trumpets. On the ground of the official road, the vanguard cavalry had already planted conspicuous flags.

Four days later, in the southwest of Jingzhou City, outside the front camp of the Chuang army, two horses hurried back and brought to Li Guo the news that a large number of Ming army navy appeared near Gong'an, and that scouts were investigating military intelligence.

Although Li Guo was good at field combat, especially counterattacks from behind, his attack on the city and the surrounding security during the siege were often full of loopholes. Zhu Cilang led the army to Gong'an, and the scouts he deployed on the periphery discovered the abnormality.

In the original history, Li Guo and Gao Yigong led an army joined by Tian Jianxiu, Liu Tichun and others, with 30,000 to 40,000 elite troops to besiege Jingzhou City for the second time. Because Ma Jinzhong fled in Yuezhou without a fight and did not even send anyone to notify, the Songzi camp was ambushed by the Qing army, and each camp suffered heavy losses.

It was in this battle that the remaining Shun army lost all its supplies and had to hide in the Kuidong mountain area for the next two years to recuperate. However, until Du Yinxi personally came to invite Li Guo to come out of seclusion, the remaining Shun army had not recovered its strength.

After all, how could a remote and poor place like Kuidong supply the army's armor, horses, muskets and artillery?

In fact, in the original history, the Thirteen Families of Kuidong gathered a lot of soldiers and horses, but they were never able to form a strong combat force to effectively contain the main force of the Qing army because the local resources could not support the manufacture of weapons and armor.

In the seventeenth century, it was no longer possible to chop wood for weapons and rise up in rebellion!

In other words, if the remaining troops of the rebel army want to restore their combat effectiveness, they cannot do without the support of food, fodder and military equipment from Huguang, especially the workshops in the new city of Changsha where military equipment is being produced in full swing.

But now, Li Guo had no time to think about these things. He actually knew that he had to replenish the army with military supplies and food, but apart from capturing Jingzhou, he still had no feasible plan.

Soon, Zhang Nai and Qin Yiming came to Li Guo's camp as messengers, read Zhu Cilang's imperial edict to Li Guo, and then informed him of Gao's handwritten order.

Although Li Guo had some doubts about Zhang Nai, after seeing Gao's handwritten order, he immediately sent someone to notify Gao Yigong and asked him to call Du Yinxi, who was under house arrest in the camp at the time, over.

In fact, he and Gao Yigong had basically trusted Du Yinxi and agreed to surrender, but they were just waiting for Gao's opinion.

But now, Gao family is in the hands of Zhu Cilang. Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongde, as well as Liu Tichun and Hao Yaoqi who are said to hold heavy troops in Zhang Nai's words, have actually accepted the surrender. This has put Li Guo and Gao Yigong in a dilemma.

"I said that His Majesty would lead a large army to capture Jingzhou. Is that correct?" Du Yinxi stroked his beard, glanced at the two people in front of him with pride, and then said:

"Madam Gao is truly a woman of great understanding and foresight. She has led the army to accept Your Majesty's offer of peace. Are the two generals still hesitating and missing the opportunity to capture Jingzhou?" Li Guo was speechless for a moment. He turned to look at Zhang Nai and asked sharply, "Is the Empress really in the palace in Changsha?"

"Absolutely true," Zhang Nai replied firmly. "The Queen told me to tell the Marquis that from now on, all military and political matters will be handled by Her Majesty. After we capture Jingzhou City, I will go see her again."

After these words were spoken, both Li Guo and Gao Yigong were slightly stunned, and then they looked at each other, obviously very surprised. They always felt that this matter was difficult to accept, but it seemed that there was no other way.

At this time, Du Yinxi didn't know what to say. He was waiting for the two to make a decision.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Nai, like Du Yinxi had done before, bowed to the east and said respectfully:

"My Lord, if you still don't believe me, please ask His Majesty to send Tian Jianxiu and Liu Fangliang as well. Your Majesty has a powerful army at his disposal, and he has dozens of heavy artillery pieces just for attacking the city. If they really want to deal with us, we won't be able to escape even if we want to.

If the Marquis had been at Tongguan back then and witnessed the formidable artillery of Duoduo's Qing army, he probably wouldn't be so indifferent now. Even without the artillery, Duoduo's Qing army was exceptionally powerful, but they were stopped by Your Majesty in Jiangbei, killing and wounding tens of thousands of men.

"Leaving aside your Majesty's personal army, the troops of Zuozhen are now able to hold off even Ajige's army, which is already extraordinary. Now five battalions of troops are accompanying your Majesty in the expedition. With such strength, are you confident that you can fight hard?"

Zhang Nai was very dissatisfied with Li Guo's suspicion and interrogation just now. He was just taking advantage of Li Guo's power to vent his anger.

After all, although Li Guo's position in the army was higher than his, he was Li Zicheng's adopted son and also a marquis of Dashun. What right did Li Guo have to order him around like this?
After hearing this, Li Guo and Gao Yigong no longer dared to doubt Zhu Cilang's strength.

When Du Yinxi said it alone, they were still skeptical, but now that Zhang Nai also said it, they had no choice but to believe it.

The two men then called in the commanders of the seven battalions, including Liu Rukui, Ma Chongxi, Li You, He Lan, Zhang Neng, Tian Hu, and Yang Yanchang, to discuss matters of recruiting and welcoming the emperor.

At the beginning, the generals still had considerable differences, but under the joint persuasion of Du Yinxi and Zhang Nai, especially after learning that Gao had accepted the amnesty and was granted the title of Lady, those generals who had originally reacted strongly quickly compromised.

Empress Gao had already been conferred a title, so why were they still arguing? Zhu Cilang's personal arrival to pacify the people was too significant for them to delay any further.

After all, if they decide to accept the amnesty, the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects cannot be neglected in the slightest from now on.

Therefore, Du Yinxi quickly took over the command of the recruitment and reception affairs from Li Guo and Gao Yigong, and the two redeployed the troops besieging the city to prevent Zheng Siwei in the city from playing tricks at this time.

After receiving the news from Du Yinxi and Li Guo, Zhu Cilang immediately ordered the army to continue up the river and head directly to the front camp of the Chuang army outside Jingzhou City.

This time, he was both recruiting and leading the army in person!

The next morning, Li Guo, Gao Yigong, and several generals of the Western Route Army, led by Du Yinxi, brought their personal troops and waited in front of the camp to welcome the emperor.

Before dawn, they received the imperial edict from Zhu Cilang, asking them to prepare a place to stay for the arriving army of more than 20,000.

Zhu Cilang had already led his army to Gong'an, which was not far from Jingzhou City. Shortly after the navy set sail in the early morning, it arrived in the southeast of Jingzhou City.

However, he did not intend to disembark directly at the dock repaired by the Chuang army. Instead, he took advantage of the time when Zhang Nai and Qin Yiming went to the Chuang army camp to contact Li Guo and Gao Yigong, and sent a detachment to build a temporary dock near a riverside town about 20 miles southeast of Jingzhou City.

Afterwards, the army disembarked at the newly built pier one after another, quickly assembled on the shore, and then marched towards Jingzhou City in a wartime formation.

Zhu Cilang was never a person who would wait passively. Regardless of whether Li Guo and Gao Yigong accepted the amnesty, he would immediately lead the army to Jingzhou and make them accept the reality that Dashun had perished.

Before noon, Li Guo and Gao Yigong heard a noise coming from afar, and then saw black dots emerging on the horizon. They were the vanguard scouts of the Ming army.

Not long after that, under the golden sunlight, a black tide of Ming cavalry rushed out from both sides of the horizon. At the same time, rapidly growing black spots continued to spread around, and thousands of horse hooves trampled on the ground, making a deafening sound.

Not only that, on the plain opposite the Chuang army camp, the powerful Ming army infantry formation soon came from the east in a black mass, like a giant dragon winding forward. On one side of the road, there were constantly galloping Tang horses passing by, raising clouds of flying dust. Interspersed in the army formation were ox-horse carts transporting armor and military equipment, which were driven by auxiliary soldiers and civilian laborers.

Li Guo, Gao Yigong and others looked at the neat and tight Ming army formations in front of them, which almost covered the entire plain. The continuous sounds of war drums and bugles came into their ears, and they couldn't help but frowned slightly.

The tightness of the Ming army's formation and the strength of its momentum far exceeded their expectations. The moving forests of spears before their eyes and the golden light reflected from the spearheads and armor gave people a solemn and murderous feeling.

Li Guo had almost never felt this way when facing the Ming army. After watching it, he couldn't help but take a breath, and at the same time he was glad that he listened to Du Yinxi and Zhang Nai.

"This Ming army is not simple!"

"It's indeed not simple. Judging from the marching formation alone, this Ming army is even better than our old camp." Gao Yigong stared at the several square formations of the front army in the formation and said in a calm voice:
"It seems that it was no accident that His Majesty was able to defeat Duoduo in Jiangbei and stop Ajige in Jiujiang."

He had indeed had some doubts about what Du Yinxi and Zhang Nai said before, but now that he had seen the appearance of the Ming army with his own eyes, the rationality and judgment honed through years of marching and fighting once again prevailed.

When Du Yinxi heard what the two said, he laughed secretly in his heart. He originally thought that Li Guo and Gao Yigong would be too concerned about their reputation, but he did not expect them to be so frank and directly admit that His Majesty had a strong army.

"This is the army that Your Majesty has brought to aid us in this battle. Generals, rest assured. The capture of Jingzhou City is just around the corner."

Li Guo and Gao Yigong both nodded. Seeing this, they immediately led their personal troops with several other generals and followed Du Yinxi to the place where Zhu Cilang's dragon flag stopped to meet the emperor.

At the same time, the Ming army's vanguard cavalry had dispersed in batches to the surrounding areas for vigilance, while the various camps of the Eastern Route Army, the Palace Army, and the five camps of the Left Town successively entered the place where the main army was lined up.

At the end of the army, there was an artillery unit marching slowly. What they were escorting was the key to breaking the city in the "Battle of Jingzhou" - a powerful firepower that the Chuang army had never possessed before.

As the view got closer, Li Guo and Gao Yigong, who were riding on horses and rushing to the location of the dragon flag to meet the emperor, could see the thousand-pound heavy artillery loaded on the carriages. They could even hear the creaking and friction sounds of the wide wheels rolling on the solid ground.

At the front of the artillery team were four armored guards holding long spears and leading the way. Behind them, each thousand-jin heavy cannon was pulled by a large gun carriage with wheels pulled by four pack horses. The ammunition cart was pulled by other pack horses following behind, and the tools for loading the artillery were tied to the gun carriage.

As for the gunners, they were either riding on the backs of the pack horses that were pulling the artillery ammunition, or sitting on the back edge of the carts, their hands tightly grasping the two wings of the carts, their shoes covered in mud.

Although they had to travel by boat most of the time, the roads near Jingzhou City had not been properly maintained in the past six months. In just these twenty miles, they had to dismount and push the cart, and dig out and lift the wheels that were stuck in the mud several times.

However, the horses that were pulling artillery and ammunition and carrying people had extraordinary endurance and maintained a good speed, but they were still snorting all the way.

"This cannon is so big!" Li Guo and Gao Yigong exclaimed at the same time as they looked at the artillery team passing by quickly. This was the largest artillery team they had ever seen.

By the time they arrived at Zhu Cilang's location and dismounted to meet the emperor, the soldiers from each camp had already entered their designated positions, even the artillery was ready, and dust was flying in the military formation.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Cilang immediately ordered Chen Fu to command the army to raise the flag and form a formation. Li Guo and Gao Yigong also brought a group of rebel generals and watched from the side with Du Yinxi.

As the Ming army began to respond to the flags, in front of Li Guo and Gao Yigong, the colorful flags fluttering in the wind in the military formations of the Palace Army and the Left Town camps were as magnificent as colorful waves rising on the plains.

In these colorful waves, there was also the dazzling gleam of armor, swords and guns. The soldiers in the army were wearing iron armor and standing upright, forming a sharp contrast with the camps of the rebel army that had not yet replenished their equipment.

At the same time, the obvious thousand-jin heavy artillery on the side of the Ming army formation not only frightened Li Guo, Gao Yigong and other generals of the rebel army, but also frightened Zheng Siwei on the top of the Jingzhou city.

When he saw the Ming army troops and cannons suddenly gathered outside the city, he immediately sent Tang Ma to ask for help from Tong Yanghe in Wuchang!

(End of this chapter)