Sweep Yuan

Chapter 229 The Changing World Urges War

The waters of the Yangtze River flow eastward, carrying the chill of early spring as they lap against the mudflats on both banks.

Ten days after the battle on the Fanchang River, the Heixinzhou Bay in the Wuwei section of the Yangtze River was already bustling with activity.

Seven large Yuan warships were moored in the bay in an orderly fashion, undergoing emergency repairs. The sounds of craftsmen hammering, sawing wood, and chanting filled the air.

Not far away on the river, eighteen large warships and even more small boats were drilling in the middle of the river. The commands of the Red Flag Battalion's naval officers and soldiers to operate the sails and oars, the shouts of boarding, and the sound of waves crashing against the hulls intertwined to form a magnificent prelude to war.

Xu Da stood on the newly built watchtower, his sharp gaze sweeping over the newly constructed water fortress. He watched the soldiers on the large ships, their movements still somewhat clumsy. Accustomed to piloting small fishing boats, they certainly needed an adjustment period when facing these so-called "giant ships."

"Raise the mainsail! Watch the wind direction!"

Liao Yongzhong's booming voice echoed across the water. These captured warships were different from the small boats of the past; they required more manpower and more refined boat handling skills. Every command had to be accurate, otherwise it could lead to disaster in actual combat.

Why not utilize the more enclosed and expansive surface of Chaohu Lake to organize naval training?

This issue had been seriously discussed by the naval officers before the war, and Xu Da submitted a report to Marshal Shi for approval.

Besides the significant difference in hydrological conditions between Chaohu Lake and the Yangtze River, the main reason is the narrowness of the Ruxu River. During the dry season between winter and spring, the water level drops significantly. While the navy's original small fishing boats could still navigate freely, these newly captured "giant boats" have a deeper draft and are extremely prone to running aground.

During the rest period of the past few months, the guards of Pengyue, Qingri, Bashan, Zhongyi, and Weiwu have taken turns organizing river crossing adaptation training on Chaohu Lake using the navy's existing small boats.

After this battle, Shishan arranged for assault troops to be stationed at Baimaozhou (east of Heixinzhou) to continue to adapt to large ships. These preparations were not only to lay a solid foundation for future river crossing operations, but also a necessary course for future conquests in Jiangnan and even the sea.

The battle in the middle of the river in Fanchang that day was quite a spectacle, witnessed by people on both the north and south banks. Some farmers and fishermen, seeing the scene of the battle from afar, embellished their accounts upon returning home, making the story of the water battle increasingly legendary and impossible to conceal.

The Yuan army in Jiangzhe Province could not simply ignore the loss of so many large warships at once.

All indications suggest that the Red Flag Battalion, whose sphere of influence is located in this area, is highly suspicious.

Shi Shan's approval of Xu Da's construction of a water fortress in Heixinzhou Bay was an even more blatant display of his determination to no longer hide his intentions.

Construction of the outer water fortress continued day and night, with watchtowers, arrow towers, docks and other facilities rising up at an astonishing speed.

Although blocked by the water fortress, preventing all ships from entering and obscuring the specific situation on the river, how could the Red Flag Battalion Navy be so high-profile if it did not have a massive force on the river?

Although Shishan needed time to reorganize his navy and deploy troops to prepare for crossing the river, he was not afraid that the Yuan court would once again raise an army and engage in a major battle with the Red Flag Battalion.

Because the Yuan court dared not make any rash moves at this time, even if the enemy raised a large army again, the Red Flag Battalion would not be afraid.

As expected, the Yuan court maintained a strange silence on this matter. Practical considerations outweighed the issue of saving face. Since the Yuan court did not send a large army from its rear, the Huainan and Jiangzhe provinces could only remain inactive.

The reason for this is actually not hard to understand.

Although Shishan did not accept the offer of amnesty, the two sides remained separate, which was tantamount to amnesty—in fact, it could be said that Shishan, which did not accept the offer of amnesty, was far more reliable than Fang Guozhen, who accepted the offer of amnesty multiple times.

The Huainan Province was deeply mired in Zhang Shicheng's rebellion and could not afford the cost of "forcing" Shishan to rebel at this time.

The Jiangzhe Province, which suffered heavy losses in this battle, sent a large force into Jiangxi Province to quell the rebellion. With its internal defenses weak, it dared not provoke Shishan too much.

In this eerie silence, the time came to the beginning of February in the thirteenth year of the Zhizheng era.

Willows along both banks of the Yangtze River are beginning to sprout, and the breath of spring is gradually spreading.

Intelligence from all sides gradually converged on Shishan through various channels. Messengers came and went incessantly in the Marshal's Mansion, and the Military Command continuously revised and improved the plan for crossing the river based on the latest battle situation.

In the eastern part of the Jiangzhe province, the Yuan court's battle with the notorious pirate Fang Guozhen had been going on for a year.

In the first month of the lunar calendar, a crucial naval battle unfolded off the coast of Taizhou Bay. The Yuan army deployed its newly formed navy in an attempt to encircle and annihilate Fang Guozhen's main force. However, Fang Guozhen's fleet, utilizing its familiarity with the ocean currents, cleverly broke free of the encirclement and instead launched a surprise attack on the Yuan army's supply ships.

This battle made the Yuan court finally realize a very frustrating reality: without a strong navy, it was impossible to wipe out Fang Guozhen, the Taizhou pirate who was well-versed in naval warfare.

In the coastal prefectures and counties of Zhejiang Province, especially Taizhou Road and Wenzhou Road, many powerful families secretly controlled large areas of salt fields and fishing boats, and suffered greatly from the ravages of Fang Guozhen's troops. They initially regarded him as a major threat.

However, after witnessing the court's exhaustion and being genuinely frightened by Fang Guozhen, they gradually changed their attitude and began to secretly cooperate with Fang Guozhen on a limited basis, mainly by providing him with small amounts of supplies in exchange for their own safety.

Ultimately, the Yuan court had no choice but to succumb to the reality of widespread chaos and the Yuan army's weakness. It resorted to the trump card of offering amnesty, determined to temporarily stabilize the two troublemakers, Shishan and Fang Guozhen, in the south and north respectively, and to concentrate its efforts on eliminating the bandits led by Liu Futong and Xu Shouhui.

This decision to offer amnesty reportedly sparked fierce debate within the Yuan court, but ultimately reality prevailed.

The Yuan court offered Fang Guozhen the position of Huizhou Circuit Administrator, a fifth-rank official position, which was naturally incomparable to the third-rank Luzhou Circuit Governor position that the Yuan court had previously offered to Shishan.

But Fang Guozhen didn't really have a choice.

The navy could not exist independently without land-based supplies. After fighting against the Yuan court for more than a year, it suffered considerable losses and urgently needed replenishment and rest.

Unlike Shishan, he had been actively seeking amnesty from the Yuan court. He would have been quite content with obtaining a fifth-rank official position. In any case, his navy was unlikely to penetrate deep into Huizhou Road west of Hangzhou Road. As long as there was a temporary truce with the Yuan court, he could catch his breath.

In a way, Fang Guozhen also benefited from Shishan's influence.

Although the Red Flag Battalion had been quiet for a few months after the Battle of Xuzhou, it still commanded 100,000 troops and dominated several routes. Officials in the neighboring provinces of Huainan, Jiangzhe, Henan, and Zhongshu did not dare to relax their vigilance in the slightest.

Yuan troops in various regions strengthened their defenses, fearing that the Red Flag Battalion might suddenly launch an attack, but they dared not provoke its troops too much and invite Shishan's retaliation.

The troops that were originally supposed to focus their efforts on suppressing the rebel armies of Liu Futong, Xu Shouhui, Zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen, and others were largely tied down by Shi Shan's forces.

The Yuan court was stretched thin and unable to mobilize a large army, so it had no choice but to bow to reality.

Within Jiangxi province, the situation for the Yuan army was much better. After the new year, the Yuan army split into two lines, north and south, to continue its campaign against the scattered Xu Song troops.

The southern front has already advanced into the area between Ji'an Road and Ganzhou Road; the northern front is besieging Jiangzhou Road.

Clearly, the northern front is more important. If they can capture Jiangzhou, the Yuan army can directly invade the core controlled area of ​​Xu Song – Qizhou Road.

The Yuan army mainly assembled three armies around Jiangzhou Road:
In the eastern route, Bu Yan Temur, the Pingzhang Zhengshi of Jiangzhe Province, led 30,000 troops from Jiangzhe and stationed them in Pengze.
The northern route, led by Xingji, the Pingzhang Zhengshi of Jiangxi Province, with 20,000 Mongol and Han naval troops, was stationed at Xiaogushan on the north bank of the Yangtze River (within Susong County, Anqing Road, relying on Daleichi to anchor the naval forces).

In the southern route, Wang Yahansha of Xining led an army of 18,000 and stationed it in De'an County.

With nearly 70,000 troops in three routes, the Yuan army already had a numerical advantage. In addition, the Yuan army had a large number of ships and suppressed the small and weak Xu Song navy. It should have been an impenetrable encirclement.

Under normal circumstances, the Xu and Song troops trapped in Dehua, Hukou and other places could only wait for the cities to fall. The food supplies in the cities were running out day by day, and what was worse, there was a severe shortage of medicine. Many wounded soldiers died because they could not receive timely treatment.

It is said that Xingji, the Pingzhang Zhengshi of Jiangzhe Province, once boasted at a banquet, "Within two months, I will present the head of the false emperor Xu Shouhui to the capital!"

Unexpectedly, just when victory seemed assured, Xu Song's small force, which wasn't even a detachment, turned the tide of the battle.

On the 21st day of the first lunar month, just as news of the Red Flag Battalion's raid on the Yuan army's warships spread, Zhao Pusheng, who had retreated to Hukou County in Jiangzhou, was encouraged by this news and proposed an extremely bold plan during a meeting of his generals: to launch a surprise attack on the Yuan army camp at Xiaogushan, which was stationed across the Yangtze River.

Unsurprisingly, this outrageous suggestion was completely ignored by Xu and Song's generals.

The Yuan army has amassed a large force and has already surrounded the city's doorstep. The soldiers cannot get out. Even if they sneak out at night, the city's limited number of small boats can only transport three to five hundred people at most. What can they do with that?
This plan was too risky, with no chance of success whatsoever; it was tantamount to suicide, and naturally, it was not taken seriously by the generals.

Since Zhao Pusheng raised an army in Luzhou Road, although he was brave and fearless, he was driven away by Yuan armies in various places due to bad luck. Now he only has a little over a hundred confidants left. In the Xu Song regime, which values ​​strength, he has little say.

His previous defeat in Tongcheng and subsequent sheltering by Shishan made his behavior even more suspicious.

His senior brother, Li Pusheng, also fled to Hukou after his defeat in Chizhou. He had less than 700 men with him and was also unable to speak.

The Xu Song regime developed too rapidly, resulting in numerous internal factions and constant infighting. The already highly independent "Peng Zu family" was particularly marginalized, facing difficulties in the allocation of military supplies and the arrangement of combat missions.

Zhao Pusheng was determined to vindicate the "Peng Zu family" and made a solemn pledge in front of all the generals: "I will not return until Xingji is defeated! If I am defeated, I am willing to offer my head." These bold words moved the generals present, and Ding Pulang, who was guarding Hukou, finally granted him permission to lead his troops into battle.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high. A chill permeated the river. Zhao Pusheng personally led more than a hundred men in sampans and, under the cover of darkness, silently crossed the river.

Because nothing had happened for several days, the Yuan army sentries were less vigilant and less prepared for the Red Turban Army to launch a night attack with such a small force. They failed to notice the stealthy approaching force.

Zhao Pusheng miraculously found Xingji's tent in the darkness. His movements were as swift as lightning, his twin swords wielding like wheels, and wherever he went, Yuan soldiers fell to the ground. Xingji was fast asleep in his cabin when he was awakened by the shouts of battle, and Zhao Pusheng was already upon him.

In this battle, Zhao Pusheng captured Xingji, the Pingzhang Zhengshi of Jiangxi Province, and killed sixteen of his guards. He then sent out a signal to allow the garrison at Hukou to leave the city, burn seventy-three Yuan warships, and behead three thousand four hundred.

For three days after the battle, the river water was foul-smelling, and countless corpses floated downstream, a truly horrific sight.

Although this great victory could not reverse the situation on the Jiangxi battlefield, it greatly boosted the morale of the Xu and Song armies and also gave the garrison at Hukou a large number of valuable warships.

After this battle, the Yuan army's carefully constructed defense line around Jiangzhou Road was torn open, and the pressure of suppressing the rebellion almost entirely fell on Bu Yan Temur, the Pingzhang Zhengshi of Jiangzhe Province, forcing him to risk drawing a large army from Jiangzhe again.

This left the defenses of the Jiangzhe province region even more vulnerable.

At this critical juncture, Buyan Temur really dared not "force" Shishan to rebel. Even though he knew that the Red Flag Battalion had seized his warships, he could only turn a blind eye and hope to quickly quell Xu Shouhui before turning around to deal with the ignorant Shishan.

The defeat in Jiangxi Province was not over yet; there was still "good work" to be done in Huainan Province.

After two failed attempts to suppress Taizhou, Tusimishi, the Pingzhang Zhengshi of Huainan Province, attempted to recruit Zhang Shicheng, who was entrenched in Taizhou.

In fact, there were two armies in Taizhou City: one led by Zhang Shicheng and the other obeying only Li Huafu's orders.

Li Huafu was originally appointed as the judge of Taizhou after being granted amnesty. After rebelling, he was constantly suppressed and guarded against by Zhang Shicheng. He found his job as the "second-in-command" unfulfilling and was also worried about being purged by the court. He really wanted to take this opportunity to accept amnesty and continue to serve as an official.

Zhang Shicheng knew that he had few soldiers and little territory, and that accepting amnesty at this time would definitely not end well.

The conflict between Li and Zhang was irreconcilable. In the end, Zhang Shicheng struck first, plotting to kill Li Huafu and forcibly taking over his troops.

Although Zhang Shicheng's forces expanded and achieved superficial unity after this chaos, his prestige was severely damaged, and undercurrents were surging within the rebel army.

In order to regain momentum, he had no choice but to continue launching major battles to rally the people and extinguish any remaining hope of Li Huafu's forces.

In this battle, Zhang Shicheng set his sights on Xinghua County in the north.

Their tactics were almost identical to those of the Battle of Taizhou: the army used salt boats, bamboo rafts and other items to travel by water to avoid the Yuan army's interception troops, hiding during the day and going out at night, sneaking north through the Chelu River, and actually fooling the Yuan army's sentry posts along the way, and appeared under the city of Xinghua.

Afterwards, they launched a fierce attack using tactics such as burning the city with oil and digging tunnels to destroy the city's foundation. Finally, at dawn on the fifth day, they burned down a section of the city wall. The rebel army swarmed in, Xinghua fell, and the two important towns of Jiangdu and Gaoyou were exposed to Zhang Shicheng's army. The Yuan army in Huainan had no choice but to switch from offense to defense.

Tusimishi, the Pingzhang Zhengshi of Huainan Province, could no longer remain calm. He submitted memorials three times, frankly stating that Huainan was no longer capable of suppressing Zhang Shicheng, and that prolonged delays could lead to disaster. He requested the Yuan court to quickly send a large army to quell the Huainan rebellion.

The Grand Chancellor of the Yuan Dynasty, Tuotuo, who was in charge of the government, wanted to personally lead a large army to quell the rebellion, but the few boats of grain sent from Xuzhou after the opening of the canal were far from enough.

The large-scale land reclamation that began last year has shown initial results. With spring plowing just around the corner, a large amount of manpower is urgently needed. This is the foundation for stabilizing the court. How could he dare to risk crippling the capital by suppressing the unrest in Huainan?

Amid this series of major upheavals, the Yuan court demonstrated unusual efficiency, quickly reaching a resolution on the unrest in Huainan Province: entrusting Zhao Lian, the Vice Minister of Huainan Province, to go to Hefei again to offer amnesty to Shi Shan.

……

P.S.: The Battle of Xiaogushan is a historical event, recorded in the "Biography of Xingji" in the History of Yuan Dynasty: "The bandit leader Zhao Pusheng was extremely brave and fierce, and the government army's ships were all burned."

(End of this chapter)