Sweep Yuan

Chapter 193 The Great Battle Begins, Commander-in-Chief in Vacancies

[Abstract]: This chapter deals with the political struggle behind Tuotuo's expedition to Xuzhou. If all of it were incorporated into the dialogue, it would be divided into two chapters. To avoid padding the word count, I did not divide it into two chapters.

I also overworked my brain yesterday by writing too much, which affected my creative state today. The second half of this chapter is a bit bland, please forgive me!

……

The southern city wall of Xuzhou.

The sweltering heat of the day had not yet dissipated when a gust of wind swept across the parapet, carrying a nauseating stench of burnt flesh and corpses, which splattered onto Sesame Li's face. He rested his hand on the cold, rough bricks of the parapet, his gaze like a hook, fixed intently on the deep night sky to the southwest.

In fact, apart from the starry sky and the campfires that were even more numerous than the stars under the sky, you couldn't see anything else.

Those were the campfires of the Yuan army, densely packed and layered, stretching from the city walls to the horizon, encircling Xuzhou like an iron barrel. The 100,000-strong army stretched for dozens of miles, their campfires illuminating the sky and the earth, as if the entire Huaibei Plain was covered by the Yuan dogs' army's tents.

To the southwest lies the city of Suzhou, where ten or twenty thousand soldiers are nominally under the command of Sesame Li—this is the only "hope" they can grasp in their desperate situation.

Although deep down, Sesame Li knew that Peng Erlang and Zhao Junyong had betrayed him long ago, and the two sides had not seen each other since the campaign against Suzhou last year, given the selfishness of Peng and Zhao, it was impossible for the troops from Suzhou to ever appear at the gates of Xuzhou.

Every night, when the Yuan army's terrifying stone bombardment subsided, Sesame Li would still drag his weary body to the top of the dilapidated city wall and gaze towards Suzhou.

This is because it is the only reason that can convince himself and his officers and generals, who are on the verge of collapse, to continue to hold on.

Even if the reason is as illusory as a candle flickering in the wind, it must be held onto tightly.

Otherwise, the city and its inhabitants would immediately collapse in despair.

"Marshal! The Tartars are about to fire again! Let's go!"

The captain of the personal guards roared hoarsely, filled with uncontrollable terror. Before he finished speaking, the creaking of winches and taut heavy cannon cables came from the Yuan army camp in the distance, particularly jarring in the dead of night.

Without saying a word, the guards grabbed Sesame Li and rushed down the ramp of the city wall.

Almost immediately after they hid in a blind spot beneath the city wall, in a concealed troop shelter made of thick stone blocks, their bodies huddled against the cold stone wall—

"Ugh——!"

A sharp, piercing sound tore through the night sky.

“BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!”

Dozens of stone projectiles, like meteors from hell, crashed down with destructive force.

The stones struck the thick city wall with deafening roars, the whistling sounds of shattering bricks echoing through the air. Another stone, with a chilling whistle, flew over the crenellations and crashed into the city.

“Boom—crash!!!”

A deafening roar, far more muffled than the sound of the city wall being struck, followed by the terrifying sounds of wood breaking and walls collapsing, came from not far from the hidden troop cave!

In the darkness, Sesame Lee and his guards couldn't actually see the exact extent of the horrific damage caused by the collapsed house.

But the thick, choking dust that hit them was mixed with wood chips and an indescribable tremor, as if the earth itself were groaning. Everyone huddled in the darkness was deathly pale and breathing heavily.

The foundation of the Xuzhou city wall is more than three zhang wide, made of rammed earth and brick, and is exceptionally sturdy, far superior to the thin walls of the houses inside the city.

But perseverance pays off. The Yuan army fired these terrifying Xiangyang cannons day and night without tiring. The thick city walls were already riddled with scars from the continuous bombardment.

The six watchtowers had already been destroyed, and the outer brickwork of many sections of the city wall had been completely stripped away, exposing the rammed earth core underneath. That rammed earth was now being gnawed away and peeled away inch by inch by stone projectiles.

Maybe next month, maybe at the end of this month, no one knows when, on which day, under the impact of which stone, the seemingly indestructible city wall will collapse with a deafening roar, just like that house just now, burying the last hope and resistance.

"Stopped?"

In the deathly silence, only heavier breathing could be heard.

After confirming that the suffocating sound of something cutting through the air had temporarily subsided, Sesame Li took a deep breath of air mixed with dust and the stench of corpses, and said in a hoarse voice:

"go!"

Although the Xiangyang Cannon was powerful, its firing intervals were long. The defending troops had already figured out its loading and firing patterns. Taking advantage of these firing intervals, Sesame Li was the first to emerge from his hiding place, straighten up, and quickly disappear into the dark streets and alleys.

The guards followed closely behind, their footsteps echoing clearly through the empty, desolate ruins.

The city of Xuzhou is no longer what it used to be.

Along the streets, the ruins of many houses, blasted down by stones, cast menacing shadows under the dim starlight. Bodies, buried under the rubble and unable to be cleared in time, decomposed rapidly in the sweltering heat of July and August, emitting a pungent stench.

The stench was everywhere, seeping into nostrils and clothing, as if it had permeated every inch of the city's land and air.

Several months ago, when the Yuan court issued an edict that "all those who gather in and around Xuzhou shall be pardoned within twenty days, regardless of whether they are leaders or followers," the Red Turban Army in Xuzhou, although being suppressed by the Yuan army, still held seven cities including Xuzhou, Xiaoxian, Xiayi, and Yongcheng, and its strength remained.

At that time in the city, the voices advocating war could still outweigh the cowardice of those advocating surrender.

By the end of June, a series of bad news arrived.

The Yuan army successively breached Yongcheng and Xiaoxian, like cold iron pincers, completely encircling Xuzhou. With external aid cut off, the isolated city faced imminent danger. Calls for surrender within the city began to spread like a plague, gradually rising in intensity and drowning out the cries for war.

Later, when the Yuan army set up dozens of Xiangyang cannons on the east, west, and south sides of Xuzhou and bombarded the city day and night, the morale of the defending army plummeted like an avalanche.

The roar of the boulder crashing into the city wall not only shattered the bricks and stones, but also shattered people's hearts.

Each time a stone fell with a deafening thud, the soldiers in the city paled a little more, and their hands gripping their weapons trembled.

The pro-surrender faction began to gain the upper hand.

Despair, like a cold tide, gradually drowned out the remaining will to resist.

On July 26, under pressure from the surrender faction, Sesame Lee, clinging to a sliver of unrealistic hope, sent out an envoy to beg for surrender, hoping to secure a way out for the soldiers and civilians in the city.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Gou acted very strangely this time!

They had no intention of accepting surrender. Instead, in front of countless soldiers defending the city, they brutally dismembered the envoy. The gruesome sight of the envoy's flesh and blood flying everywhere, and his desperate and mournful cries, were like the loudest slaps to the faces of all those who still harbored illusions about the Yuan Dynasty.

Only then did everyone in Xuzhou City fully understand: Yuan Gou was determined to exterminate them all this time.

We will not rest until Xuzhou is destroyed!
The path to surrender was completely blocked, and the soldiers and civilians in the city had no choice but to fight to the death!

By now, the city's defenses were severely damaged, with all six watchtowers reduced to rubble. Many sections of the city wall had crumbled, exposing the rammed earth, which was being thinned further by the continuous bombardment of stones. Countless houses within the city had collapsed, and the corpses buried beneath the ruins were rotting and stinking; the shadow of plague was beginning to loom.

A sense of impending doom permeated the city.

But the Tartars refused to surrender, and everyone was driven to the brink of despair. They could only grit their teeth and endure day after day with endless fear and numb hatred, waiting for the final moment to arrive—whether it was the fall of the city or a slim chance of a miracle.

Outside Xuzhou City, in the central command tent of the Yuan army.

The commander's seat was vacant, and the torches and candles illuminated the tent as bright as day, yet they could not dispel the oppressive and gloomy atmosphere.

"Scouts report that in recent days, there have been frequent unusual movements by bandits in the southwest direction of Suzhou, and the bandit scouts' activity area has expanded significantly. The day before yesterday and yesterday, there were several fierce clashes with my patrolling scouts. What are your thoughts on this?"

The speaker, seated to the left of the main seat, was the Yuan army's second commander in this campaign against the Red Turban Army in Xuzhou—Darmashiri, the Commissioner of the Court of State Affairs. He wore a purple robe, his face solemn, and his fingers unconsciously tapped the rough sheepskin map on the table.

Meanwhile, the commander-in-chief of the campaign to suppress the bandits in Xuzhou, Right Chancellor Toqto'a Temur (hereinafter referred to as Toqto'a), was still in Dadu and had not yet set off. The military affairs at the front were temporarily overseen by Daermashiri, a high-ranking official of the first rank.

Upon hearing this, Tujianbuhua, the Vice-Chancellor of the Privy Council (a second-rank official), sitting to the right of Daermashili, stroked his neatly trimmed beard, his face showing obvious doubt:
"The bandits of Suzhou? Weren't they just two traitors, Peng and Zhao, with only 20,000 remnants left, hiding in their shells for almost two months without daring to show their faces? How come they suddenly have the audacity to come out of the city and provoke our army?"

His tone was condescending and disdainful, but there was also a hint of unease deep in his eyes.

Daerma Shili frowned even more deeply and said in a deep voice:
"According to the scouts who escaped, the troops we fought were not the bandits from Suzhou. They spotted the Red Flag Bandits' banner!"

He emphasized the words "Red Flag Bandits," and the atmosphere in the tent instantly froze.

"In yesterday's two preliminary battles, our scouts suffered eleven dead, eight seriously wounded, and twenty-eight lightly wounded!" Da'ermashili reported this number with an incredulous and heavy tone. It should be noted that in the past, when dealing with scouts from the Red Turban Army in Xuzhou, the Yuan army often held a decisive advantage, outnumbering many of them.

Tu Jianbuhua gasped, "How could the casualties be so heavy? How many Red Flag bandits actually came?"

“Each bandit scout who directly engaged our army had no more than ten men in their squad.”

Daermashiri didn't know how many Red Flag Battalion soldiers had come; he could only recall the report from the scouts who had escaped, and said:
"But the enemy's tactics are extremely brutal and cunning. Once the battle begins, they immediately fire signal arrows. Soon, several or even a dozen enemy scout squads will swarm to the scene and relentlessly pursue them. Our scouts are caught off guard and suffer heavy losses!"
"The soldiers are still fearful after yesterday's battle, so I have ordered the scouts to reduce their patrol radius by ten miles."

The Yuan scouts were all elite soldiers, handpicked from the best, skilled in both horsemanship and archery, and highly experienced. The fact that they could instill fear in these men and force them to retreat speaks volumes about the Red Flag Bandits' fighting strength and will to fight.

The contempt on Tu Jianbuhua's face disappeared, replaced by solemnity.

He looked at the other person sitting below him, who had been silent all along—Zhang Peijian, the Junior Supervisor, Wuluo.

"Woluo," Tujianbuhua said, "You served as the Marshal of the Western Expedition for several years, and your experience in commanding troops in battle is the most extensive. What do you think we should do about this situation? Give me a suggestion."

The Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Guard in Oro was only a third-rank official, below Da'erma Shili and Tujianbuhua. He didn't want to speak too much in front of his two superiors, but since he had been specifically asked, he couldn't refuse. After a moment's hesitation, he said:
"My lords, before we set out, the Right Chancellor had already given me a clear order—the entire army should focus all its efforts on capturing Xuzhou and not worry about anything else! Our army has a force of 100,000, and we have already deployed two strong defensive lines in the direction of Suzhou."

The main force of the Red Flag bandits is also tied down in the Luzhou area by Lord Xie Zhedu of the Huainan Province. Even if there are any unusual movements, the number of troops they can transfer north will be limited, and they may not be able to break through our defenses and threaten the main battlefield in Xuzhou.

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the two superiors, his words cautious but his attitude clear:

"In my opinion, the military intelligence regarding the unusual movements of the rebel army in Suzhou must be reported to the court in detail as soon as possible, and the Right Chancellor must be informed. As for our army at present, we only need to follow the original strategy and intensify our attack on the city. As for other matters, the Right Chancellor will make the final decisions, and the Emperor will decide!"

These words were perfectly balanced and watertight. They not only clearly stated the supreme order for Tuotuo to capture Xuzhou, but also emphasized the superiority of their own forces and the deployment of their defenses. They also brought up the restraining role of Huainan Province, and finally cleverly pushed the decision-making power to the Right Chancellor and the Emperor, who were far away in Dadu.

He expressed his judgment while giving face to his two superiors, thus avoiding overstepping his bounds.

Daermashili gave Wuluo a deep look. This former general who had led the western expedition was indeed a seasoned veteran who knew both military affairs and was also shrewd and worldly.

Although he was quite worried about the unusual movements of the bandits in the direction of Suzhou and somewhat wary of the fighting strength shown by the Red Flag Bandits, what Wuluo said was indeed in line with Tuotuo's instructions and was the safest option.

Daermashiri nodded slowly, suppressing his unease, and said in a deep voice:
"Then we shall act in accordance with Woluo's words, and issue orders to all departments that, starting tomorrow, each cannon shall be operated by two teams of people, day and night! The craftsmen shall speed up the manufacture of spare Xiangyang cannons, and replace them when they break. The cannons shall not stop even when the people rest, and we must destroy the defenses of Xuzhou as soon as possible!"

Behind the seemingly harmonious agreement among the Yuan generals lay a turbulent undercurrent and a deep-seated discord. This delicate situation had profound underlying causes.

Rewinding to the end of June, news of victory arrived in Dadu by fast horse, reporting that the Yuan army on the front lines had successively recovered Xiayi, Yongcheng, Xiaoxian and other places, finally completing the ironclad encirclement of Xuzhou. The entire Yuan court was greatly encouraged.

Right Chancellor Tuotuo recalled Liu Futong, who was always surrounded but always managed to escape. Fearing that the situation in Xuzhou might change, he petitioned the emperor to send Daermashili, the head of the Tongzheng Yuan, and Tujianbuhua, the deputy head of the Privy Council, to the front lines in Xuzhou to supervise the battle.

To boost morale at the front, Toqto'a even obtained thirty precious imperial edicts (official appointment documents) for Daermashili and Tujianbuhua.

This meant that Da and Tu had the right to immediately promote meritorious "righteous soldiers" leaders to positions such as commanders of ten thousand or commanders of a thousand. Such privileges of "acting first and reporting later" and winning people's hearts were undoubtedly a huge temptation.

Daerma Shili and Tujianbuhua were unwilling to waste the great merit of "picking up" the traitors for free. After arriving at the city of Xuzhou by horseback, they immediately ordered the Yuan army to launch a more intense offensive as imperial envoys and commanders-in-chief.

They even prepared surrender documents, intending to pacify the rebel army when its morale further collapsed, hoping to undermine the fighting spirit of the Xuzhou garrison and add a brilliant chapter to their perfect record of supervising the battle.

Unexpectedly, just a few days later, Right Chancellor Tuotuo sent a secret letter from his trusted confidant. The letter was extremely brief, with only one core demand: refuse to accept any form of surrender from the Xuzhou rebels! They must be completely annihilated as a warning to others!
This order was like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the idea of ​​Da and Tu to persuade the Xuzhou bandits to surrender.

Immediately afterwards, even more perplexing and unsettling news came from the court: on July 14th, the court issued an edict appointing the former Marshal of the Western Expedition, Wuluo, as the Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Guard, ordering him to "attack Xuzhou".

The front lines were advancing triumphantly, with frequent reports of victories. Yet, the imperial court sent a low-ranking official, Wuluo, whose position was only a third-rank official below Daermashili and Tujianbuhua! What was this all about? Was he here to "supervise the battle"? Or to "assist"? Or perhaps... to "reap the rewards"?
neither!
Daerma Shili had been a high-ranking official for many years, holding the rank of First Grade. His perspective and depth of understanding were far beyond that of ordinary people. He keenly realized that the arrival of Wuluo and Tuotuo's refusal to accept the surrender order both had deeper reasons.

On the same day that Wuluo was appointed, the Right Chancellor Tuotuo himself petitioned the emperor to personally lead the army to conquer Xuzhou, and the emperor agreed.

The following day, the emperor officially appointed Tuotuo as the acting Privy Councilor, in charge of 200,000 households, and bestowed upon him a gold belt and various amounts of silver, paper money, and silk! This meant that Tuotuo had obtained the military power to command the army and be fully responsible for the pacification of Xuzhou.

Strangely, it was already the ninth day of the eighth month, more than half a month since Toqto'a had been given the command, yet the Right Chancellor was still staying in Dadu and showed no sign of personally leading the expedition.

Darmashiri certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to think that the powerful Toqto'a was cowardly and afraid of fighting. Toqto'a was strong enough to draw a powerful bow and had even assisted the current emperor, Toghon Temür, in overthrowing the former powerful minister, Bayan, and ascending to the throne. He was definitely not a timid and weak scholar.

As the Right Chancellor, Toqto'a held the position of regent, assisting the emperor in managing all affairs of state and wielding supreme military and political power over the empire. He was truly "second only to the emperor and above all others." His "main battlefield" was always the treacherous imperial court in the capital, not the front lines of suppressing the rebels amidst a hail of arrows and stones.

Even if Tuotuo felt it necessary to personally lead troops to demonstrate his military prowess, his target should have been Xu Shouhui, the most powerful and largest pseudo-emperor of the Xu Song dynasty, or at least Shishan, the Red Flag bandit who had taken over Luzhou Road.

Even if you win against a petty tyrant like Li, whose power has been severely weakened and who is besieged in a lonely city by an army of 100,000, how much glory will it bring? It will not demonstrate his extraordinary abilities at all.

The reason why Tuotuo, at this final moment, was willing to use his position as prime minister to "snatch" the seemingly easy victory of Pingxu from Daermashili and Tujianbuhua was that he had encountered the biggest political crisis since he came to power.

Tuotuo's position is in grave danger.

The trigger for this crisis was his younger brother, the Imperial Censor Yesen Temur.

Esen Timur began commanding troops in October of last year, responsible for suppressing the Red Turban Army led by Liu Futong, Wang Quan, and Meng Haima in the north. The war went relatively smoothly in the early stages, and by the end of the year, he had even led his army to recapture Shangcai and capture Han Yao'er, a fierce general under Liu Futong, making him the most prominent figure at the time.

However, in March of this year, when Esen Timur's army was stationed at the Shahe River, a terrifying mutiny suddenly broke out in the camp at night. Soldiers began killing each other without warning, the camp collapsed, and tens of thousands of soldiers disintegrated overnight, scattering and fleeing in all directions.

Esen Timur, with only a small number of defeated soldiers, retreated in disarray to Zhuxian Town.

The defeat at Shahe was devastating, causing heavy losses and shocking the court and the public.

Upon hearing the news, Toqto'a was filled with shock and anger, but he could only suppress his rage and quickly petitioned the emperor to replace Esen Temur with Manzi, the Grand Councilor of the Central Secretariat, to lead the army, and to recall his younger brother, who had caused such a disaster, back to Dadu.

What's puzzling is that after Esen Timur returned to the capital, he was reinstated to his original position and continued to serve as the Imperial Censor.

This outcome thoroughly enraged the forces in the court that had long been dissatisfied with the Toqto'a brothers.

In April, Mongol Luhaiya, Fan Wen, and other censors of the Shaanxi Provincial Administration jointly submitted a memorial, requesting the emperor to punish Esen Temur severely for "losing the army and disgracing the country, a crime that cannot be forgiven."
To be fair, Esen Timur was indeed not a military commander; his performance was at best mediocre, or even terrible.

However, there were many generals in the Yuan Dynasty who lost their troops and avoided battle out of fear of the enemy. Esen Timur was by no means the worst of them. He even had some military achievements to his name.

The impeachment of Esen Temur by Mongol Luhaiya, Fan Wen, and others was actually aimed at the pillar behind Esen—Right Chancellor Toqto'a. This was a long-planned political struggle aimed directly at the core of Toqto'a's power!
However, because Emperor Toghon Temür still needed to rely on Toqto'a to handle the crisis, the matter was forcibly suppressed and left unresolved.

But once a political struggle begins, it is a fight to the death.

Mongolian Ruhaiya and his associates, along with their backers, would never give up so easily and continue to seek opportunities to attack Toqto'a and his cronies.

During this period, Xu Song's army wreaked havoc in Jiangnan, and Dong Guozhen of Zhejiang burned the imperial grain transport ships, blocking the northward transport of Jiangnan's wealth; while in the nearby Huaixi, the "Red Flag Bandit" Shishan also swallowed up the entire Luzhou Road.

This series of bad news, compounding the existing woes, finally caused Emperor Toghon Temür, who was already dissatisfied with the results of Toghon Temür's reforms, to develop a strong sense of disappointment and resentment towards this powerful minister whom he had once relied on so heavily.

The emperor began to publicly reprimand Toqto'a, his words harsh, and the political climate in the court changed drastically!

Toqto'a keenly realized that his position and even his life were in grave danger.

He was well aware of the survival rules in the power arena: to resolve this deadly political crisis, he had to immediately demonstrate his skills with an indisputable victory and a bloody massacre, intimidate all opponents, and regain the emperor's trust.

Since a political issue cannot be resolved in the court, let's resolve it with a major military victory!
This victory requires several conditions to be met: the target must be large enough, it must have jumped out aggressively before, and it must be the easiest target to crush now. Looking around the world, the only one that meets all three conditions is Sesame Li, who is already surrounded by 100,000 troops in Xuzhou and has no way to escape.

That's why Toqto'a personally took command at the last moment, wanting to firmly grasp the easy victory of suppressing the bandits in his own hands.

However, before the city of Xuzhou was truly about to fall, Toqto'a could not leave the center of power.

He must remain in Dadu (Beijing) and use his political skills and remaining authority to suppress the increasingly turbulent undercurrent of political infighting, buying himself the time needed to deliver the "good news" that would allow him to turn the tide.

To ensure that Sesame Li is crushed, we must first contain the most likely disruptive variable – the Red Flag Battalion of Shishan!
Therefore, Tuotuo did not hesitate to change generals on the eve of battle, removing the newly appointed Huainan Pingzhang Huang Huoerbuhua, who had formed a subtle "tacit understanding" with Shishan in Huaixi, and replacing him with his confidant Xie Zhedu.

He also strictly ordered Xie Zhedu to harass the Red Flag Battalion at all costs, and not to allow the Red Flag Battalion to be free to disrupt the Battle of Xuzhou.

Unexpectedly, Shishan had such courage, ignoring the still unsettled rear of Luzhou Road and brazenly sending the elite Red Flag Battalion northward.

The seemingly certain annihilation battle at the gates of Xuzhou suddenly took an unexpected turn, and the situation became unpredictable and volatile.

The flickering lamp in the tent of Daermashili seemed to reflect the unpredictable face of Tuotuo in the deep palace of Dadu, and the gaze of Zhima Li on the city wall of Xuzhou, where a faint flame of despair had been rekindled.

The outcome of this three-way game is unpredictable.

(End of this chapter)