Chapter Seventy-One: The Decisive Battle (I)

"Good!"

"Mighty words!"

When the words fell, Dingzhu and He Weiwei laughed and stroked their palms one after another. In the past few days, almost all I have heard in my ears is the bad news that civil and military officials from all over the country are vying to surrender to the Zhu butchers, and suddenly Li Hanqing, a stranger who is willing to live and die together for the Great Yuan Dynasty, is really shocking. As for whether his plan to connect with the Vietnamese and pit Wu can be used well, it is still secondary. Anyway, this is already the moment, and the imperial court will definitely not be stingy with an empty title. And even if Zhang Shicheng refused to raise troops to attack the back of Zhu Butcher's back, there was no loss to Dingzhu and He Weiwei, and he could also take the opportunity to receive the 3,000 musketeers that Li Hanqing had worked so hard to train.

Quickly weighing the benefits and disadvantages again in his heart, Dingzhu smiled and bowed his head. "That's it! Since you are willing to make a military order, the old man will give you a chance. Come on, pen and ink waiting! ”

"Someone, for the right minister, to Zhang Shicheng to repair the book. Let's just say that the right minister, the old man and Li Zhi are in the Privy Council, and they jointly promote him as the king of Yue! The prime minister of eastern Zhejiang Province allowed him to open a government and build teeth, and appointed civil and military officials on his own. The letter of recommendation has been sent to the court, and after he agrees to send troops to harass Zhu Tuhu, the holy decree and the seal letter will be boarded from Haigu! He Weiwei also smiled and added loudly.

According to the habit of high-ranking Mongolian officials, the army carried a reliable pen style. [Note 1] So, after a few moments, two middle-aged literati with beautiful faces walked in with their waists bent. A grinding ink pen wrote a letter to Zhang Shicheng on behalf of Dingzhu. The other spread out the paper, wrote the military order for Li Hanqing, and then asked the latter to sign and draw it.

After everything was busy, Dingzhu immediately sent his henchmen, Pegasus, to Haigu. transferred the fastest sentinel ship and sent his letter to Hangzhou. He Weiwei fulfilled his previous promise and promoted Li Hanqing to calm Lu Daru Huachi, the Privy Council was the third rank of the Privy Council, and allocated 7,000 elites from the Chinese army to supplement the Loyal and Righteous National Salvation Army, which was led by Li Hanqing. Military salaries and rations are to be paid according to the maximum amount.

"Thank you to the two prime ministers, I will go to the soup in the future, and I will not give up!" Li Hanqing finally got what he wanted, and pretended to be grateful.

"Get up! You don't have to go to the soup and go to the fire. When it's time for a decisive battle, it's good that you can do your best! Seeing his servile appearance, He Weiwei's heart just swelled with a good feeling, and it disappeared in a blink of an eye. He smiled reluctantly and commanded in a low voice.

"Get up! After going back, carefully integrate the old and new departments, don't lose the trust of the old man and the left minister! Dingzhu changed his previous dazed appearance, stepped forward with a smile, helped Li Hanqing up from the deck with both hands, and eagerly admonished.

"Thank you, two adults!" Li Hanqing struggled to bow down again, respectfully.

"Get up, the old man and Lord He are also virtuous for the country, so you don't have to be too polite!" Dingzhu smiled and pulled Li Hanqing up again. Immediately, like an elder, he patiently admonished a few words about the essentials of controlling the army, and then called Zuo Xiangtai and sent him out of the cabin together.

However, when this person's back jumped onto the liaison boat, Dingzhu's gaze quickly began to turn cold, "This son, with ill intentions, must not be entrusted with a heavy responsibility!" ”

"And let him be happy for a few days. I have already arranged another henchman among the newly incorporated men and horses of the Loyal and Righteous National Salvation Army, and if I find out that he has acted unsubordinately, I will immediately punish him! He Weiwei's eyes were as cold as a knife, staring at Li Hanqing's back as he gradually moved away.

Both of them were powerful ministers of the court, and it was their proper duty to be martyred for the Great Yuan. And Li Hanqing is just a lowly slave, he has never received the slightest attention from the court in his life, and his former proprietor was unjustly killed. And now, this person still shows extraordinary loyalty, and his words and deeds are really incomprehensible.

As the saying goes, things are abnormal, and for the monsters who can't understand and are not sure whether they can control it, whether it is Dingzhu or He Weiwei, they will never risk keeping him and let his strength continue to grow and develop.

However, for the two of them, the most important thing at the moment is not to find an excuse to kill Li Hanqing and never suffer in the future. Instead, they tried every means to delay time, and tried to delay the date of the encounter between the main forces of the enemy and us until after Zhang Shicheng's side reacted. Therefore, the two of them discussed it a little, and that night they stationed the army in the wilderness by the canal in the name of conserving physical strength. The next day he slowed down the march by half and crawled forward at a rate of ten miles in the morning and ten miles in the afternoon.

Maybe Li Hanqing's strategy worked, or maybe Xu Da suddenly felt the danger. At the same time that the marching speed of the soldiers and horses in the hands of General Dingzhu slowed down greatly, the Huai'an army suddenly launched a new wave of offensive.

On the eighth day of the first month of March, the Fourth Army of Huai'an forcibly crossed Zhangshui and conquered Julu. Shunde Lu Dalu Huachi died in battle, and more than 40 civil and military personnel such as the prefect and Zhenfu surrendered to Xingtai City. The Mongol and Han officials of Guangping and Zhangde fled over the Taihang Mountains to Jining. Handan, Yongnian, Linzhou and other cities went down without a fight. There were too many new prefectures and counties in an instant, and the Huaiyang Government Council had no time to send civilian officials to rush over to receive them, so it could only temporarily promote the gentry "village sages" who were brave enough to do things and had provided convenience for the Huaiyang governor.

On March 15, Xu Da personally led the army to conquer Enzhou. Immediately, Zhang Dingbian led the elite of the first brigade to capture the old city, and Wu Liangmou led the fourth army to conquer Wuqiao, and together with the main force, formed a joint attack on Lingzhou. Zhang Clam, a wealthy merchant in Lingzhou, was the father-in-law of the prefect Wang Keji, donated 100,000 yuan to the teacher, and invited the famous officials and gentry in the city to discuss the strategy of resisting the thieves at home. Wang Keji didn't know what to do, so he happily went. Zhang Clams threw his cup on the ground without spending time at the banquet, and the family killed all the dead soldiers of the Huaiyang Military Intelligence Department Action Team, and wiped out all the civil and military officials in the city.

Lingzhou was broken, and the Mengyuan officers and soldiers and villagers in the surrounding areas were unable to continue to support. On March 20, the Huai'an army marched in parallel on the left, center and right, and within a few days successively recovered Nangong, Zaoqiang, Ningjin, Leling and other places. At the end of the month, all the states and counties along the way changed banners, and Xu Da's troops pointed directly at Dongguang.

After Dong Wenshan, the general of the early Yuan Dynasty, Dalu Huachi Dong Pei was the commander of the Yuan Dynasty, he judged the situation a long time ago and established close contacts with the Huaiyang Governor's Office. Hearing that Xu Da's army was coming, Dong Pei made meritorious contributions, and in the name of "facing the Huai thief", he personally led his soldiers and horses to Dongguang. Then the Menghan officials under his command, such as deputy Wanhu, experience, and Zhenfu, were invited to the government to plot righteousness and Yinghuai, so as to seek wealth and prosperity in the second half of their lives.

Unexpectedly, he held a grudge against his righteous brother Xu Deguang because he was scolded in public for embezzling military salaries. Ming promised to go down to rectify the military horses, and abandon the darkness and turn to the light. In private, he colluded with Hussein, the prefect of Semu, and Li Hui, a thousand households, and suddenly raised troops in the middle of the night to "arrest the rebels".

Daru Huachi Dong Pei is a hereditary military attaché, with average command ability, but also rough and arrogant by nature, with extensive contacts, and acts entirely according to his heart. As a result, in a hurry, he was caught off guard by Hussein and others. In less than an hour, the prefect's yamen, which served as a temporary governor, was breached. Except for one young son who was sent to contact the Huai'an army, Dong Pei and his four sons and two sons-in-law who accompanied the army all died in the chaos.

The fighting lasted all night, and the next morning, Hussein, Xu Deguang and others slaughtered Daru Huachi Dongpei's henchmen and the Huai'an military intelligence in the city. More than 10,000 local soldiers and horses originally belonged to the Wanhu Mansion in Hejian, as well as 20,000 volunteers temporarily recruited by the Dong family some time ago, and most of them also fled. The total number of those who were wrapped up in Hussein and others was less than 5,000.

Na Hussein knew that with only 5,000 men and horses, he would definitely not be able to stop Xu Da's 200,000 army. So they openly plundered the city, and robbed all the gold and silver and other things that were eye-catching. Then he set a fire and led Xu Deguang and others to flee to Nanpi together, trying to defect to Dingzhu.

As a result, he was only halfway there, and was caught up by Wu Liangmou, who rushed to hear the news. As soon as the two sides lined up, the 5,000-yuan army immediately collapsed. Hussein, Xu Deguang, Li Hui and others will not be able to flee for their lives and kneel on the ground to pray. Shi Ludeshan, the commander of the Fifth Army in Huai'an, hated Hussein and others for harming the innocent, and cited the old precedent of the trial of Zhang Mingjian, and sentenced the generals to death on the spot, and the head was hung on a high pole to give a warning for the latecomers.

Three days later, the Dong family in Hejian heard the bad news and returned to Huaiyang. At the beginning of April, Xianzhou, Hejian, Fucheng and other places were conquered without attack. At this time, the main force of the Yuan army under the Dingzhu Department walked to Cangzhou. It is still more than 100 miles away from Nanpi.

The Dong family has been entrenched and multiplied on Hejian Road for nearly a hundred years, known as a family and ten gongs, which can be described as a big tree with deep roots. Therefore, the Dong family took the lead in surrendering Huai'an, which brought great shock to the local government. Soon, several other families of the Han army marquis on Zhending Road also erected righteous flags in the cities where they lived. Or directly announce that they will belong to Huaiyang, or follow the example of the end of the Jin Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, and form a village to protect themselves. Be prepared to assess the situation and sell at the price.

As soon as the princes' control over the people was loosened, the people became more and more eager to welcome the Huai'an army. Everyone knows that behind the Huai'an army are thousands of grain ships, and every time they regain a Chinese homeland, the first thing they do is stop the ships to release grain and provide relief to the victims. And as long as you go to the place controlled by the Huai'an army, whether you are men, women, or children, as long as you do a few very easy things according to the other party's instructions, or help drive the carriage, or help pull a few cables, you can exchange for a whole day's rations.

The various parts of Hejian did not suffer last year, but it was too close to the capital, and most of the grain produced was looted by the government to support the Yuan army. Therefore, the people have not eaten a full meal since the beginning of spring. From the civilian officials trained by the Huaiyang Governor's Office, after getting the first bowl of grain, they were all grateful and virtuous. Some of the quick-witted, young and strong people simply asked to join the army on the spot. Those who were weak and a little timid also spread the name of Mr. Zhu's benevolence and righteousness one after another, in the hope that the Mengyuan court would be finished as soon as possible, and replaced by Zhu Fozi, a wise monarch, who would ascend the throne and save all the people in the world from fire and water.

Unlike the people's anticipation of the Huai'an army, there were also gentry and heroes who were hard-hearted slaves along the way, as well as tax collectors who fled north. The latest movements on Xu Da's side were continuously sent to Dingzhu and He Weiwei for free. The two of them found that the distance from the main force of the Huai'an Army was approaching, and immediately stopped. While sending his henchman general Arutai to "recover" Hejian Mansion, open up the passage between Hejian Road and Baoding Road, and urge Yuekuo Cha'er to immediately lead local soldiers and horses to come to reinforcements, while seizing the surrounding favorable terrain, preparing to rely on Cangzhou City and fight Xu Da to the death. (Note 2)

Note 1: Secretary, in the Mengyuan Dynasty, it was called pen style Qi, and in the Qing Dynasty, it was a pen tip.

Note 2: Tax Officer. A kind of lazy government in the Mengyuan era. Taxes were contracted to the Semu people, who collected taxes on behalf of the imperial court. After handing over a certain amount, the rest can go into your own pocket. The insatiable greed of these tax collectors led to the withering of local people's livelihood, and the booming business culture since the Song Dynasty quickly shrank and cleared.

Alcoholic's Note: Start the countdown to completion