"Your Majesty!" Zhang Shize was the first to cross the Yangtze River by boat and fell at the feet of Zhu Youzhen.

Looking at Zhang Shize's frozen and chapped face, Zhu Youzhen was also very excited, and said repeatedly: "You have worked hard, you have worked hard." ”

The arrival of Zhang Shize finally gave Zhu Youzhen the confidence to finally come out of the shadow of Sun Chuanting's defeat.

The red lady stood quietly behind Zhang Shize, looking at Zhu Youzhen curiously with a pair of round eyes, and Liu Rushi in a cyan official robe standing behind Zhu Youzhen.

The emperor in front of her was so young, which made the red lady a little surprised, and what surprised her even more was that there was a female official behind the emperor. has been with Zhang Shize for more than half a month, and she also has an understanding of various systems and situations in Daming, such as judging the identity of the other party through official uniforms.

Zhu Youzhen also noticed the red lady standing behind Zhang Shize, Zhang Shize's entourage all knelt down with him, only this woman stood upright, looking very conspicuous.

Zhang Shize hurriedly said to the red lady: "In front of Your Majesty, General Red kneels down quickly. ”

The red lady hurriedly followed and knelt down.

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "This is the red lady you said in the song, and she is really a heroine among women!" ”

Zhang Shize previously said in the song about the surrender of the Red Lady, and Zhu Youzhen also agreed to pardon the Red Lady according to Zhang Shize's suggestion, although the Red Lady gathered a crowd to rebel, but in fact there were not many evil deeds.

"The grass people gathered a crowd to make a rebellion before and committed a great crime, so I specially followed the Marquis of Pingbei to ask Your Majesty to deal with it." The red lady said according to what Zhang Shize taught in advance.

"You have committed a great crime by killing officials and rebelling, gathering people to make rebellion, and conquering cities and lands, but you are young and ignorant, and you can take the initiative to return to the court when you are lost, and the death penalty can be avoided, but you must be punished!" Zhu Youzhen said slowly.

"Ah, do you want to be punished?" The red lady opened her mouth wide and muttered in a low voice, "Didn't you say that you are not to blame for the past, how can you talk and not count......"

"At present, the situation is turbulent and thieves are everywhere, I allow you to make meritorious contributions to atone for your past sins, so you can follow the command of the Marquis of Pingbei and be a cavalry commander." Zhu Youzhen continued.

The red lady was overjoyed: "What you said is true, really no longer hold us accountable?" ”

"You want to call Your Majesty." Zhang Shize hurriedly said to the red lady.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty." The red lady stuck out her tongue.

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "I am the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, so naturally I am a man of my word, how can I not count my words?" ”

"Great." The red lady jumped up excitedly, "It seems that he is right, you are a good emperor." ”

Liu Ru stood motionless behind Zhu Youjian, but her eyes were wandering around the red lady, and she was full of curiosity about this heroic girl.

......

Zhang Shize brought 8,000 troops, including 7,000 Janissaries, and 1,000 cavalry under the Red Lady. Now the number of troops in Zhenjiang has reached 90,000, Zhang Shize's department has 7,000 people, plus more than 1,000 veterans under Li Dingguo, the number of the Praetorian Guard alone has reached 8,000, which is already quite combative.

After Zhu Youzhen and Yuan Keli discussed, they decided to reorganize the army and appointed Yuan Keli as the superintendent responsible for formulating strategies. Zhang Shize was appointed as the chief soldier of the battalion and was responsible for the actual command of the operation.

After all, Li Dingguo is young and has no experience in commanding tens of thousands of troops, but he can still be a pioneer, considering that his 1,000 men have now been scattered as officers at all levels of the peasant army, he allocated 3,000 people from Zhang Shize's command to his command.

The Janissaries are uniform, they are all the emperor's army, not anyone's private soldiers, and changing generals does not affect the command. Moreover, Li Dingguo is also from Yansui, and the soldiers of Zhang Shize's department are fellow countrymen, although he is young, he has fought a lot of battles, especially the achievements in the Battle of Wuhu, even many officers of Zhang Shize's department have to admire.

Since Zhang Shize's troops arrived, considering the current situation in the world, Zhu Youzhen was unwilling to wait any longer and decided to launch an offensive against the Nanjing rebels. It is necessary to defeat Yuan Chonghuan's anti-thieves and recapture the city of Nanjing this spring, otherwise the situation will be very troublesome.

Zhenjiang is only more than 100 miles from Nanjing, and there are two ways to go to Nanjing. One is to follow the south bank of the Yangtze River to Nanjing, but the south bank of the Yangtze River is hilly, and the road is very rugged, which is not suitable for the army to walk. The other road is from Zhenjiang to the southwest, through Jurong to the west, through Fangshan, Niushou Mountain to attack the south of Nanjing. This road is a little farther, but it is much easier to walk than marching along the south bank of the Yangtze River.

After discussion, Yuan Keli suggested that the troops should be divided into two routes, and the main force should go directly to Nanjing along the south bank of the Yangtze River, after all, there are too many peasant soldiers with weak combat effectiveness, and the river boat can be loaded with grain and baggage if you go along the river bank, and the Guanyin Gate in the east of Nanjing is still under the control of Hong Chengchou, and you can directly enter the inner city from the Guanyin Gate. Moreover, Zhang Shize still has 5,000 elite Praetorian Guards in his hands, even if the thieves intercept him, he is not afraid.

As for the south road, Li Dingguo led 3,000 Praetorian Guards to take the south road, attack Jurong, and then from Jurong to the west, all the way to the south of Nanjing.

"Although there are many thieves, they have to divide heavy troops to guard against Hong Chengchou and Li Yanzhi in the inner city, and they can't allocate too many troops to intercept us." Yuan Keli said.

"What if Yuan Chonghuan chooses to besiege the city and send reinforcements, put Hong Chengchou with a small part of his troops, and divide most of his troops to attack us? It is necessary to prevent it from being broken by each one. Zhu Youzhen said.

In the battle of Salhu, the Ming army attacked Jianzhou in four ways, and was broken by the Eight Banners led by Nurhachi, so that the entire Liaodong was lost. Now there are only 8,000 elites in the army, but Yuan Keli chose to divide the troops, which made Zhu Youzhen a little uneasy.

"Although Li Dingguo's troops are small in number, they are small and fine, and Li Dingguo has enough combat experience, even if Yuan Chonghuan personally leads a large army to attack, it is not easy to annihilate him. And if Yuan Chonghuan leads the main force to attack Li Dingguo, we can directly enter the inner city of Nanjing, integrate Hong Chengchou's subordinates, in terms of military strength and anti-thieves, and there is an inner city wall, you can go out of the city at any time to attack the anti-thief, then the anti-thief will be defeated, and it will be easy to be driven out of the outer city. And if Yuan Chonghuan leads the main force to intercept our main force, Li Dingguo can lead his troops to attack the south of Nanjing, cut off the connection between the rebels and other prefectures and counties under their control, and cut off their grain backups, and then the rebels will be defeated! Yuan Keli patiently analyzed.

Zhu Youzhen thought about it, but couldn't think of a better way, and decided to trust Yuan Keli, so he ordered the army to rest for a few days, and send troops on the day of the 15th day of the first month.

......

Zhenjiang's movements naturally could not be concealed from Yuan Chonghuan, after discovering that Zhang Shize led his troops to Zhenjiang, the emperor was going to send a large army to attack Nanjing, Yuan Chonghuan urgently convened his subordinates to discuss the enemy's strategy.

"There are only a few thousand people in the department of Zhang Shize, the Marquis of Pingbei, and although there are more than 80,000 people around Emperor Zhenjiang, they are all newly recruited peasant soldiers, and their combat effectiveness is vulnerable, so the cabinet does not need to worry too much." General Song Jinle said.

"The general should not be underestimated, that Zhang Shize is the first favorite general around the emperor, he has repeatedly made military exploits against the Mongols and Jiannu, and was canonized as a marquis by the emperor, although the number of his subordinates is not much, but the strength cannot be underestimated." Qian Qianyi hurriedly said.

"What kind of military merits are marquis, but because he and the emperor have been playmates since childhood, if you talk about military merits, can he be bigger than Sun Chuanting? You must know that in the Battle of Hetao, Sun Chuanting was the commander, but Sun Chuanting did not get any title, but he was made a marquis, and the emperor was clearly rewarding and punishing unfair cronyism! Song Jin sneered.

"Yes, in terms of military merits, which one of Sun Chuanting or Lu Xiangsheng is not older than Zhang Shize, but Zhang Shize has military merits and marquis, how unfair the emperor's reward and punishment is!" Huang Li also smiled.

"The 30,000 Praetorian Guards led by Sun Chuanting were all defeated by the Nanyang Red Turban Thieves, and Zhang Shize's troops are only a few thousand soldiers and horses, how much can they make waves." Song Jin said disapprerovingly.

The news of Sun Chuanting's defeat in Nanyang has reached here, and all the generals under Yuan Chonghuan are shocked and excited, the strength of the Praetorian Guard once made them feel uneasy, and now it seems that the Praetorian Guard is not as terrible as imagined!

"The combat effectiveness of the Praetorian Guard is still very strong, and we have all experienced it in Wuhu before, so everyone should not be careless." Yuan Chonghuan said.

"That's what the cabinet said!" Song Jin and the others thought of the battle of Wuhu and hurriedly said.

"But now the general trend is on our side, as long as we fight steadily, the victory must belong to us, and there will be no problem in taking Nanjing!" Yuan Chonghuan smiled.

The Battle of Nanyang, regardless of the actual situation of the war, but Sun Chuanting's defeat is an indisputable fact, this battle can be regarded as dispelling the myth of the invincibility of the Praetorian Guard, and will inevitably inspire those who resist the tyranny of the emperor everywhere, so that the gentry in the provinces are no longer afraid.

Yuan Chonghuan could imagine that as long as the news reached the provinces, the uprisings in the provinces would inevitably set off a climax. Those who were afraid of the strength of the Praetorian Guard and did not dare to resist will no longer be afraid after hearing the news, and will take the initiative to rebel against the tyranny of the emperor.

As the first rebel, the rebellious gentry from the provinces will inevitably gather under the banner of Zhu Yousong, the prison state, and obey the dispatch of Jiangxi!

Therefore, it does not take much effort for the power of one's side to expand dramatically. Maybe in some time, the entire Jiangnan and even most of the Ming Dynasty will set off an upsurge of rebellion against the emperor, and they will all gather under the banner of Jiangxi and obey their own call! Thinking about that situation, Yuan Chonghuan couldn't help but laugh.

"I heard that the Nanyang rebels supported Zhu Yujian, the king of Tang, as the prison state, will other places obey the dispatch of the Tang king?" Huang Li suddenly said.

"Impossible!" Yuan Chonghuan hadn't spoken yet, and Qian Qianyi said categorically.

"The Tang King lineage is passed down from the twenty-third son of Taizu, and the bloodline is too far away from today, but the prince of Fuwang is the grandson of Shenzong and the cousin of Chongzhen! Relatives near and far, people in the world can tell clearly, except for those red turban thieves in Nanyang, there will be no one else who will give up the prince of the king and choose the king of Tang! ”

"What Mu Zhai Gong said is very true! King Tang, don't worry, we just need to think about taking Nanjing and defeating the emperor now! Yuan Chonghuan also said.

As long as the city of Nanjing is taken, even if Chongzhen cannot be killed or captured, Zhu Yousong, the son of King Fu, can also come to Nanjing to ascend the throne justifiably, and the gentry of the provinces will inevitably choose to support Zhu Yousong at that time. And Tang King Zhu Yujian is just a puppet supported by a clown and red scarf thief, which is not worth mentioning at all!

"Then Zhu Yujian defeated Sun Chuanting, will he send troops to the north, if he defeats Henan and Hebei, or even Beijing City, maybe he can really compete with the prison country." Huang Li said worriedly.

"How easy is it to conquer the city of Beijing? The emperor still has strong strength in the frontier, and there are 70,000 or 80,000 Praetorian Guards in Liaodong. At that time, Zhu Yujian will just kill himself! Qian Qianyi said disdainfully.

"Don't think about the matter of King Tang and the red scarf thief for the time being, let's talk about what we should do now?" Yuan Chonghuan pulled the topic back.

"The emperor led a large army to reinforce the city of Nanjing, the number of troops reached 100,000, if they really entered the inner city of Nanjing, it would be even more difficult for us to capture the inner city. They must be prevented from entering Nanjing, and it is better to be able to defeat them! Song Jin said.

"It's not easy to stop him from entering Nanjing. Now that the Yangtze River is controlled by its sailors, who can stop it from entering Nanjing through the waterway? Qian Qianyi asked.

To the north of Nanjing is the Yangtze River, and the emperor's army can choose to reinforce from the Yangtze River, and there is really no way to take them.

"Then hold on to them!" Yuan Chonghuan thought about it, but he didn't have much to do, so he gritted his teeth and said.

"Since the emperor wants to lead his army into the inner city of Nanjing, let him in. Let us give up attacking the inner city, build a large camp in the outer city, and trap the inner city to the death. At the same time, the troops were divided to guard the Moling Pass and the Dasheng Pass, and to hold the main road in the south and west of Nanjing, so that the connection between the counties of Yingtian and the prefectures of Nanzhi and Nanjing could be controlled. ”

"At present, the southern provinces are directly under the south of the Yangtze River, and the emperor occupies the four provinces in Jiangdong, but the other provinces are controlled by us and connected with Jiangxi. And it won't be long before there will inevitably be uprisings in Huguang, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, and then all provinces in the world will rebel, and although the emperor has a large army, he will inevitably be overstretched!

Although Jiangdong is rich, but very short of grain, Beijing and Jiubian need more grain supply from the southern provinces, as long as we are in Nanjing and Chongzhen until the summer, Jiangdong will inevitably have a grain shortage, Cao grain can not be transported to the north, Beijing and even the entire Jiubian will be in chaos. ”

"At that time, the strength of our army will be stronger, but Chongzhen's strength will be weaker and weaker. It is inevitable that they will flee back to Beijing's lair in a hurry, so that they can surrender without a fight! ”

Yuan Chonghuan talked eloquently and said his countermeasures. Turn from attack to defense, change from attacking the inner city of Nanjing to defending the outer city, and meet the emperor's army in Nanjing City!

The reason for this change is that Yuan Chonghuan has lost confidence in capturing the inner city. In the past month or so, he has attacked more than ten cities, but he has not been able to break through the inner city, but has lost a lot of soldiers.

And now, the emperor has brought nearly 100,000 people to reinforce the inner city, and he may be able to block his army all the way, but he can't prevent it from entering the inner city, after all, the Yangtze River waterway is controlled by the other party. In that case, where is there any hope of taking the inner city?

But it was not easy to attack the outer city, and the retreat was too big a blow to the morale of the other side, and it was impossible to retreat, so it could only be a confrontation!