Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 312 Rebels Launch a Surprise Attack on Hanzhong, a Crisis Ensues (Part 2)
Zhu Jue was truly surprised that Pan Yunteng, who was commanding the army, would suddenly run over.

The Hanzhong army currently gathered in the Wangwu and Taihang Mountains is not just a small force, but a force of six or seven hundred thousand.

What's this guy doing here?
Soon, Pan Yunteng strode in, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "This humble general greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "Yun Teng, what's wrong? What happened?"

Pan Yunteng quickly explained, "Your Majesty, Zhang Xianzhong suddenly amassed more than 100,000 troops to launch a surprise attack on Baoxie Road. I only left 100,000 troops to guard Hanzhong, and we also need to guard more than ten cities and more than ten mountain roads in the north and south. I left 10,000 troops to guard Baoxie Road."

This guy is still launching a frenzied attack, and the ten thousand men I left behind are simply no match for him. Zhang Xianzhong has already broken through the Xiehe Valley. At this rate, he'll probably be able to invade Hanzhong in less than a month.

Zhang Xianzhong launches a surprise attack on the Baoxie Road!

This is the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou directing the rebels in a feint attack.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue immediately understood.

Seeing that the Hanzhong army was harassing and threatening their strongholds year after year, the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou simply followed suit and sent Zhang Xianzhong to launch a surprise attack on the Hanzhong army's stronghold.

If Hanzhong falls, it won't just be a matter of the Hanzhong army's stronghold being destroyed; Zhang Xianzhong could also march south from Hanzhong to Sichuan and seize that major granary.

This is probably the fundamental reason why Zhang Xianzhong launched a fierce attack on Hanzhong regardless of everything.

Historically, Zhang Xianzhong's Great Western regime persisted in Sichuan for several years. If Zhang Xianzhong were to break into Sichuan, it would be a huge problem.

He frowned and pondered for a moment before asking, "Are your men all too busy to send reinforcements?"

It's really too late. If it were possible, I wouldn't have come to you for help.

Pan Yunteng slowly shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. There was a problem with my troop deployment. In order to intimidate Shanxi, I mobilized a total of 700,000 troops."

Currently, 700,000 troops are gathered in the Wangwu Mountain and Taihang Mountain area, which is more than 2,000 li away from Hanzhong. Moreover, the army has to cross the Yellow River, and it will take at least more than a month to go back to provide support.

Of the remaining 200,000 troops, I left 100,000 in the Central Plains. Those 100,000 troops cannot be transferred away yet, because they are currently holding many rebel prisoners captive and farming in the Central Plains. If they leave, the Central Plains will be in chaos again.

Currently, the entire Hanzhong region, including Shangluo, only has 100,000 troops, and there are far too many places to defend. I can only muster 20,000 to 30,000 to reinforce them.

The generals of Baoxie Road built many fortresses, but due to the terrain limitations and the difficulty of transporting supplies, most of the fortresses in Baoxie Road could only accommodate a few hundred or a thousand men and their defensive capabilities were not very strong.

I then built a city near Shimen Pass at the southern end of the Baoxie Road, blocking the exit of the Baoxie Road.

This Shimen Pass can accommodate 20,000 to 30,000 troops. Therefore, I am prepared to gather troops and defend Shimen Pass to the death.

However, the defenses of Shimen Pass are only equivalent to those of a small county town, and I estimate that it would not be able to withstand the fierce attack of Zhang Xianzhong's more than 100,000 troops.

Your Majesty, I dare to ask if you may lend me two thousand small Zhiyuan merchant ships.

If we had two thousand small merchant ships, I could mobilize one hundred thousand troops to travel from Huaiqing Prefecture, along the main Yellow River, then around the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River, and finally reach the Han River.

The Han River waterway leads directly to Shangluo. Even if an army of 100,000 men were to travel from Shangluo, it would only take a maximum of half a month. Therefore, the entire journey would take about twenty days, which should be sufficient.

I'd like to lend you two thousand small Zhiyuan merchant ships.
Zhu Jue glanced at Zheng Zhilong beside him, then couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, "Yun Teng, it's probably too late to mobilize the small Zhiyuan merchant ships."

"This is because most of the smaller Zhiyuan merchant ships have gone to Southeast Asia. It will take at least half a month for me to send someone to order them to return. The remaining smaller Zhiyuan merchant ships are scattered throughout the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, hauling goods. It will probably take more than half a month to gather them all together."

Ah!
Is it too late to mobilize the small Zhiyuan merchant ships?

Upon hearing this, Pan Yunteng said with a solemn expression, "Your Majesty, if there is no time to mobilize small merchant ships, then I can only order the 100,000 troops left to guard Hanzhong to abandon all north-south routes and fully reinforce the Baoxie Road, striving to hold out for more than a month until reinforcements arrive."

However, this approach might not be foolproof. If Zhang Xianzhong received intelligence and launched a surprise attack from other valleys in the Qinling Mountains, those valleys would be essentially undefended, making it easy for him to penetrate into Hanzhong.

The move by the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou was truly ruthless.

Zhu Jue nodded slowly, then asked, "Aren't there quite a few sweet potatoes and potatoes being grown in Hanzhong now?"

Pan Yunteng nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, there are many disaster victims over there. They feel that the weather there is better. It is not as hot in summer as it is in Guanzhong, nor as cold in winter as it is in Guanzhong. Therefore, they do not want to go back or go to other places."

"I have no choice but to have them plant sweet potatoes and potatoes all over the valleys and riverbeds so that they can barely have enough to eat." "We can't lose Hanzhong either."

If Zhang Xianzhong's men had obtained a large quantity of high-quality sweet potato and potato seeds and planted them everywhere, they could have fed countless men.

More importantly, most of the people in Hanzhong were disaster victims. If Zhang Xianzhong forcibly conscripted able-bodied men, he could expand his army by at least several hundred thousand!
Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then said, "Yun Teng, come back to the palace with me to discuss this. Zheng Hua, send someone to inform Jian Dou to hurry to Yu Xi Palace for an audience."

After saying that, he took Pan Yunteng directly onto the boat and headed towards Yuxi Palace.

Lu Xiang-sheng is in the capital right now, much faster than them.

When they returned to Yuxi Palace, Lu Xiang Sheng and his party were already waiting for them at the entrance of the main hall.

Zhu Jue didn't waste any time. He waved his hand and led Lu Xiang Sheng into the main hall. He then ordered Wang Chengen to take out a map of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty and spread it out on the table in the middle.

Lu Xiang-sheng was still a little confused.

Why did Pan Yunteng suddenly return? And why did His Majesty summon him here?
Seeing this, Zhu Jue pointed to the map and explained in detail: "Jian Dou, Zhang Xianzhong suddenly led more than 100,000 troops to launch a surprise attack on Baoxie Road. By now, they have already broken through the Xiehe Valley. Yun Teng only left 100,000 troops to garrison Hanzhong. Hanzhong is a strategic location with more than a dozen cities and more than a dozen passages in the east, west, north and south."

At this moment, Yun Teng has no way to mobilize all the troops in Hanzhong to defend Baoxie Road. Not to mention anything else, any of the six routes in the Qinling Mountains is vulnerable, and Zhang Xianzhong could take advantage of the situation to invade.

"Tell me, what methods you have to defend the Baoxie Road and protect Hanzhong?"

Zhang Xianzhong launches a surprise attack on the Baoxie Road!

This is a really big problem.

The main force of the Hanzhong army is all along the Taihang Mountains and Wangwu Mountains.

This line is more than 2,000 li away from Hanzhong. By the time the main force of the Hanzhong army rushes back to reinforce, Zhang Xianzhong will probably have already broken through the Baoxie Road.

Lu Xiang-sheng bowed down, raised his hand and walked around the map for a while, then asked with a solemn expression, "Yun Teng, are there any cities or fortresses along the Bao-xie Road for defense?"

This naturally exists.

Pan Yunteng quickly pointed and explained in detail: "We have built several fortresses in the Baoxie Road to guard various passes. In addition, we have also built a city at the southern exit of the Baoxie Road for defense. It is no problem to garrison 20,000 to 30,000 troops in this city."

Fortunately, there are still cities.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng decisively said, "Your Majesty, now the only thing we can do is to mobilize the musketeers of the Beijing Garrison to reinforce us. If we can mobilize 10,000 musketeers of the Beijing Garrison to this city south of Baoxie Road, then even if Zhang Xianzhong has more than 100,000 troops, he will not be able to conquer it."

Do you want to send the musketeers of the Beijing Garrison to reinforce them?
Doesn't this tell everyone that the Hanzhong Army is under my control?

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue hesitated.

He really hadn't considered mobilizing the Beijing garrison to reinforce the Hanzhong army; that would be tantamount to slapping himself in the face. Although face wasn't that important these days, as emperor, he was better off not easily slapping himself in the face when he could save face.

If the Hanzhong Army hadn't dealt with the princes and members of the imperial family, it wouldn't have been a big deal for him to send troops from the capital to reinforce them. The problem is, the Hanzhong Army has already dealt with quite a few princes and members of the imperial family. If he were to send troops to reinforce them, it would be tantamount to openly targeting the imperial family.

Some things can only be done, not said.

Of course, he could also make the Hanzhong army immediately submit to the imperial court, thus making it legitimate to send the Beijing garrison to reinforce them.

However, this would not be conducive to his dealing with the Jurchens. The only way for the Hanzhong army to attract the Jurchen cavalry to come to its aid was to make it appear as if it were attacking Pingyang Prefecture, Taiyuan Prefecture, and Fenzhou.

Now that the Hanzhong Army has submitted to the imperial court, the only remaining option is to deal with Gao Yingxiang. Gao Yingxiang only nominally occupies Liaozhou, Qinzhou, Zezhou, and Lu'an Prefecture. If the Hanzhong Army submits to the imperial court, taking these four prefectures would be the end of the matter. If he then orders the Hanzhong Army to attack Pingyang Prefecture, Taiyuan Prefecture, and Fenzhou, it would be like letting rebels attack his own territory.

This approach is neither legitimate nor justifiable.

Does he still care about his reputation and his dignity?
This is really confusing.

He stared at the map, agonizing for a while, when suddenly he noticed a place name.

Chongqing Prefecture, Zhongzhou, and Shizhu Pacification Commission!

(End of this chapter)