Chapter 541: Ah Shu withdraws

When Meng Tianxiang led the Zhongshun army to chase the Yuan army to Luoyang City, the deputy general defending the city had already ordered to put away the drawbridge and close the city gate. In this way, it not only temporarily stopped the advance of the Zhongshun army, but also blocked the 2,000 Yuan troops outside the city.

The Yuan army that was blocked cursed, but when they saw that the pursuers behind them were approaching, they did not dare to fight, so they had to flee to both sides.

Meng Tianxiang grabbed the reins of his horse, looked at the Yuan army that was scattering and fled, and then looked at the tall Luoyang City, and sneered: "Retreat." ”

Back at the place where the army was located, the artillery battalion had already erected twenty guns.

Zhao Huai's martial arts are strong, and he praised: "General Meng, worthy of being the successor of the Gao family's marksmanship, killed the Luoyang guard in three moves, this is the first merit of entering Luoyang, the general rested for a while, and watched our army shell Luoyang City." ”

"Yes, General."

Zhao Huai smiled and said loudly: "The artillery battalion listens to the order and shells the city gate." ”

The commander of the artillery battalion, who received the order, immediately waved the flag and gave the order to open fire.

I only heard the sound of "boom, boom" cannons, twenty guns fired at the same time, and after one round, the suspension bridge in front of the Luoyang City Gate had been destroyed. The Yuan army guarding Luoyang had never seen a firearm, and how did they know that there were such sharp weapons in the world. After the first round of shelling, everyone was dizzy, and even the deputy general of the Yuan army standing at the head of the city was stunned by the sound of artillery.

Not long after, before the officers and soldiers of the Yuan army could react, the second round of artillery was fired in a salvo. Half of the shells in this round hit the city gate, while the other half fell on the city tower, and coincidentally, the shells hit the deputy general of the Yuan army on the city tower, killing instantly.

About two quarters of an hour later, a large hole was blasted out of the city gate, and Zhao Huai saw this and immediately gave the order to attack the city. At the same time, ten artillery pieces adjusted their direction and fired around the city gates. The soldiers of the Yuan army, who had lost two main generals in a row, could not organize an effective defense at all, and the sparse feather arrows shot down from the city wall could not stop the pace of the Song army's attack at all, not to mention, these defenders who were still firing arrows were soon overwhelmed by the smoke of artillery fire, and they could not see the situation in front clearly.

The siege soldiers were led by the Zhongshun army, and the six hundred warriors rushed straight to the city gate under the leadership of Meng Tianxiang, followed by the five thousand Song army infantry led by Fan Liangfu, and then followed by the three thousand musketeers led by Zheng Xiangdong, the commander of the first brigade of the first division of the Royal Forest Army. The Chung Shun army was all cavalry, and the speed was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, it had attacked under the city gate. Meng Tianxiang took the lead and was the first to rush in from the broken city gate. Some of the Mongolian defenders in the city brandished their weapons, as if they wanted to resist, but they were killed by Meng Tianxiang with a big gun and lost their armor.

After a while, hundreds of loyal soldiers rushed in and successfully occupied the east gate of Luoyang City.

"Those who descend will not be killed."

"Those who descend will not be killed."

The follow-up Song army entered the city one after another under the leadership of Fan Liangfu, and shouted loudly everywhere after entering the city.

An hour later, Luoyang City gradually returned to calm. Except for more than 1,000 Mongol soldiers who fled from the rest of the city gates, most of the remaining Han and Jin soldiers chose to disarm and surrender.

Zhao Huai, who had a happy face, walked into the city gate surrounded by guards, looking at Luoyang City, where the smoke of gunpowder had not yet dissipated, Zhao Huai couldn't help but think, the Xijing Luoyang City of the Great Song Dynasty was finally recovered in his own hands, father, you can rest in peace.

"The people will obey."

"Ask the general for orders."

"Okay." Zhao Huai instructed, "General Meng, you lead the Zhongshun army to maintain order in Luoyang City, post notices to reassure the people, strictly prevent the remnants of the Yuan army from harming ordinary people, strictly prohibit the city from taking the opportunity to make trouble, and even more prohibit the officers and soldiers of our army from oppressing the people, and once discovered, arrest immediately." ”

"Yes, the last general."

"General Fan, Brigade Commander Zheng, the two of you will lead the 5,000 infantry army and the Imperial Forest Army to take over the defense of the city gates, and there is no need to pursue the fleeing enemy."

"Yes, the last general."

"The rest of the congregation will clean up the battlefield and take the prisoners."

"Yes, the last will obey."

After the recovery of Luoyang, Jiang Wanzai and Yin Yinglei discussed and sent their own troops, and successively recovered the surrounding cities, and in less than half a month, the major cities in the central and western parts of Henan were all planted with the banner of the Great Song Dynasty. The defenders in these cities were already very small, and basically there was no resistance, so they surrendered. Among them, many Han soldiers defected under the influence of Meng Huanshan and others, which also made the Song army almost encounter obstacles when attacking the city, and there were few casualties.

During this time, the Song army that went to the Stone Buddha Temple to build a camp was also quite smooth.

After the Battle of Xiangyang, there were about 100,000 people left in the Mongolian middle route army, of which 15,000 were sent to Xuchang, and then they were defeated by Yin Yinglei, and in the first battle of Dengzhou, they lost more than 20,000 people, plus 10,000 who were transferred back by Kublai Khan, and the Yuan army was still in the Nanyang camp of more than 50,000 people, plus the Yuan army was more and more afraid of the firearms of the Song army, so it was only a little probing, and under the staggered attack of the Song army's muskets and grenades, the army withdrew, and then never went out of the city to attack.

On February 14, the camp of Shifo Temple was basically completed, and on the same day, the Nanyang Yuan army received an order from Kublai Khan, allowing Boyan and Ashu to lead the army to retreat north to Yingtianfu (now Shangqiu) in eastern Henan, Yingtianfu as the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Bianliang and Luoyang are called Sanjing.

When I got the news that the Yuan army was retreating north, it was already noon the next day.

"Evacuate Nanyang?" When Gongsun Xiaochen and Lu Wenhuan reported to me, I was stunned for a moment and said, "What's the matter, Ah Shu is scared?" ”

Fang Ling said with a smile: "Brother, of course I'm afraid, you think, most of Henan has been recovered by our army, and the construction of the Shifosi camp is completed, the Nanyang Yuan army is likely to fall into the encirclement of our army, Kublai Khan naturally doesn't want to see the middle route army being completely annihilated by our army, yes, it is a wise move to evacuate Nanyang, but also a helpless move." ”

Lu Wenhuan said: "Your Majesty, what Concubine Lingniang said is very true, just now the last general, General Gongsun and General Tian summed it up, and they also think so. ”

I smiled and asked, "Where will Ashu retreat?" ”

"Back to the emperor." Gongsun Xiaochen pointed to the map and said, "There are two possible places, one is Yingtianfu in the east of Henan, and the other is Xiangzhou City (now Anyang) in the northeast. Your Majesty, please see, there is Xuchang in the north of Nanyang, and there are more than 10,000 people in Xuchang City, 20 artillery, it is not easy for Ashu to take Xuchang, once it is dragged by the Indian general headquarters under Xuchang City, our Dengzhou army will attack again, and it will lose its troops again. Therefore, after analysis, the Senate believes that Ying Tianfu and Xiangzhou are the most likely. At present, General Lu Wenxin led the soldiers of the Black Carbon Regiment to follow, and there will be a response soon. ”

I said "En", while looking at the map, I said: "Yingtianfu is the place where Gaozong ascended the throne back then, Ashu retreated to Yingtianfu and the Yuan Army East Route Army can get close to each other, so as to take care of each other, and Xiangzhou is also a historical city, the walls of these two cities are quite strong, but it is very likely." ”

Lu Wenhuan said: "Your Majesty, after Ashu withdraws the army, will my Dengzhou army move north?" ”

"Of course." I didn't hesitate to say, "General Lu, order the Lu Division's troops to be stationed in Nanyang, and the rest of the armies are ready to go out, and after determining the whereabouts of the Ashu Division, we will determine where our army will be stationed." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Five days later, Lü Wenxin led the Black Carbon Regiment back to Dengzhou, bringing news that the Mongol Middle Route Army had withdrawn to Yingtianfu.

When I got the news, I immediately asked Gongsun Xiaochen to summon the generals to come to the big tent to discuss the matter.

"See the Emperor."

"Generals, excuse me."

"Your Majesty."

Lu Wenhuan said first: "According to the latest news, the Mongolian Central Route Army has withdrawn to Yingtianfu, and our army has recovered Nanyang without blood. Since then, the central and western regions of Henan have been under the control of our army. Generals, Your Majesty will now announce the plan of action of our army for the next stage. ”

I looked at the generals and said with a smile: "Generals, the current situation is clear to everyone, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as getting better and better, so I will not repeat it here." A few days ago, General Lu had informed you that you were ready to go on the expedition, and now it was time to march to Xuchang early tomorrow morning. In addition, General Lü Wenhuan ordered the 19th chamber under the jurisdiction of Lü Shikui to leave a force of an army to guard Nanyang, and the rest of the soldiers also marched to Xuchang. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Gongsun Xiaochen, order Xiangyang to garrison General Tang Yongjian, and order him to lead the whole army of the Xiangyang garrison to Nanyang."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Lu Wenhuan then asked: "Your Majesty, in recent months, our army has recruited 1,500 new troops in the area of Dengzhou, have these new troops followed the army north?" ”

After the recovery of Dengzhou, the local people enthusiastically joined the army, and more than 2,000 people signed up in Dengzhou alone, and after examination, 1,500 people were finally admitted.

"The basic training of the new army has not yet been completed, and it is irresponsible for them to go to the battlefield rashly." I thought for a while and said, "General Lu, for the time being, leave the new army in Nanyang, and after the training is completed, first organize it into General Zhang Shun's grain transportation team, and then let them go to the battlefield after training for a while." ”

"Yes, the end will be done."

After saying goodbye to Fan Zhishang, the commander of Dengzhou County, I took a group of personal guards and went north with the army. When I was leaving, almost all the people of Dengzhou who knew the news went out and came to the camp to see me off. These people sent the little eggs and pancakes they had saved to the guards, begging them to pass them on to the emperor.

Seeing this kind of scene, I can't help but think of the situation of the military and civilians in the liberated areas in later generations.

On the evening of 23 February, I arrived in Xuchang. As soon as Yin Yinglei, who was already waiting at the south gate, saw me, he knelt on the ground and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, the minister has kowtowed to you." ”

"Yin Aiqing, excuse me." I personally helped Yin Yinglei up and said, "Yin Aiqing, you and your subordinates have worked hard. ”

"Your Majesty......" After Yin Yinglei got up, he was already in tears.