"Crackling—"

"Bang! Boom! Boom! ”

On the first day of the first lunar month, as the Spring Festival belonging to China, even if they are in the smoke and clouds of war, it does not prevent the people from celebrating the New Year.

The second year of Jianwen came as scheduled, and during this Spring Festival, from the inner courtyard of the palace in the south to the alleys in the north, all places were full of joy and excitement.

Even in Bohai and Liaodong, where there was only enough food for less than four months, Zhu Gaoxu specially asked Wang Yuan and others to make fireworks, and asked the Shenji Battalion to open cannons to celebrate the New Year.

It's just that compared with the liveliness of the people in Liaodong, Zhu Gaoxu was full of sadness.

"Here we go again......"

"How many letters are you sending this month?"

In Guangning City, Zhu Gaoxu, who lived in the Yamen of the Commanding Envoy, looked at the letter handed by the officials of the hundred households in Xichang and asked helplessly.

"Sixth, it seems that His Royal Highness King Yan is feeling the pressure, so he keeps asking you for soldiers."

The hundred household officials understood it self-righteously, but the corners of Zhu Gaoxu's mouth twitched, could he still not know Zhu Di?

In history, when Zhu Di faced Li Jinglong, there were only tens of thousands of people?

There are at most 20,000 mobile horse infantry, only five or six thousand cavalry, and the remaining 30,000 or 40,000 foot soldiers are still guarding to the death, for fear of being attacked by the soldiers and horses of Daning and Liaodong.

Look at the present, 10,000 cavalry, 50,000 horse infantry, and 100,000 foot soldiers......

This lineup is comparable to Zhu Di's time for the decisive battle of Lingbi, and Li Jinglong should have an army of 500,000, but now there are only 300,000.

160,000 to 300,000, if you change others, you will be frightened, but Zhu Di probably didn't take Li Jinglong in his eyes at all.

If he hadn't asked him to delay the time, maybe he would have been like beating Geng Bingwen, going south to fight Li Jinglong in a decisive battle at Baigou River.

"At this time, he still wants to fight with me, this cheap dad shouldn't want to share my military power, right?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the letter in his hand uncertainly, how did he know that Zhu Di was just greedy and wanted to get all the good things into his hands.

"I'm not going to eat the pie you drew in my life......"

Zhu Gaoxu thought in his heart, and then handed back the letter in his hand: "You let people tell my father, just say that my side has begun to prepare, February 15, let him be careful." ”

"Yes......" The Baihu official responded, and then asked: "Do you want to tell His Royal Highness King Yan the news of crossing the sea to attack Dengzhou?" ”

"No need, there are many people, he can understand it himself after you say it, and let someone call Sun Cheng here."

"Yes!" After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, he waved his hand to signal him to retreat, and soon saw Sun Cheng walking into the middle hall.

"Your Highness." Sun Cheng, who was dressed in the regular clothes of a second-grade civil official, walked into the middle hall, and now he is already the political envoy of the Yamen of the Liaodong Political Envoy Division.

Although Zhu Yunwen has promoted the political envoy to the second grade, Zhu Gaoxu's side still uses the system of Zhu Yuanzhang's period, and does not recognize his promotion of civil officials at all.

"The news of Hu Lun in the south came, half a month faster than we expected."

Zhu Gaoxu was talking about the movements of the Southern Army's naval division, and Sun Cheng had just learned the news, but he already knew that he was going to attack when the Southern Army's naval division sent a Pingwu naval division to harass southern Liaoning, so he immediately knew Zhu Gaoxu's intention to come over to him.

"At the Jinzhou Shipyard, three 3,000-material warships and 16 2,000-material warships have been built, and there is still a shortage of 7 3,000-material warships, fourteen two-thousand-material warships, and thirty horse ships."

"If you want to send troops on February 15, at most you can only process and produce ten 3,000-material warships and 30 2,000-material warships, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to build those 30 horse ships."

The construction of warships was very fast, because the Daning immigrants were also relocated to Jinzhou, Lushun and other places, and most of them are now engaged in shipbuilding in the shipyard.

However, although the construction speed of the warships was fast, the capacity of the warships was not high, and the real transportation of troops still had to rely on horse ships, and the timber of the horse ships could not be used until at least the beginning of February, and there was no time to build and launch them on February 15.

If there were no horse ships, even if the Bohai Navy won the naval battle, it would not have the strength to send more than 40,000 soldiers and horses to Dengzhou.

"If the merchant ships in Jinzhou want to be requisitioned, how many ships can be requisitioned, and how many troops can be transported, you will send people to investigate."

"In addition, tell Wang Chuangong and Liu Chuangong to them, and let them immediately step up the construction of horse boats, how much can be launched, and it is enough to ensure that they will not sink within two or three years."

The shipbuilding industry of the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties was very developed, relying on the unique mortise and tenon structure and construction technology, even if it was a 3,000-material ship, it could be built within three months, but in view of the short construction period, the service life of such ships could only last for five or six years.

However, for Zhu Gaoxu, the horse boat, which has been baking wood for more than two months, is enough to last for two years.

"The minister commands." Sun Cheng responded, and Zhu Gaoxu also spoke: "Is all the grain in Jinzhou made into military rations?" ”

"All have been made, 100,000 stone of military food is made into 20,000 buckets of military food, enough for 40,000 troops to eat for a month, and 20,000 stone of beans have also been prepared, enough for 60,000 horses to eat for a month."

"Although everything is ready, the minister feels ......"

Sun Cheng prepared everything, but he felt that Zhu Gaoxu was still a bit risky to do this, after all, he only brought a month's grain to Dengzhou, in case Li Jinglong returned to the division, it would be easy to run out of food.

"Don't worry, I've prepared everything, you just have to wait for the Kaifu Treasury to allocate food."

Zhu Gaoxu interrupted him, and then spoke: "We only have three months, and if we can't take Denglai Erzhou, we will all starve to death." ”

"Yes......" Sun Cheng didn't say more, and only left after bowing his head.

He walked out of the commanding envoy's yamen, sniffing the smell of sulfur saltpeter in the air and sighed.

"I don't know how long this war will last......"

At the same time as Sun Cheng sighed, tens of thousands of troops came and went in Zhuozhou City, some were making military rations, some were making dried vegetables, and some were polishing weapons.

"The naval division in Denglai has decided to start on February 15, and the Pingwu water division will send troops to attack the four prefectures of Hai, Gai, Fu, and Jin to contain the Bohai pirate army, and we need to start marching north on February 15."

There was a sound in a mansion where the plaque of "General of the Expedition" was hung, and Li Jinglong, who was standing in the middle hall, was dressed in military uniform, holding a dogma in his hand and pointing to the mountain and river routes on the sand table.

Around the middle hall, more than a dozen generals looked at the position pointed out by Li Jinglong, some of them were wearing simple Ming army style Ming Zha armor, and some were decorated with some Mongolian style, and the appearance of the generals themselves was closer to the Mongols.

This group of multi-ethnic generals is a counterinsurgency corps built by gathering 300,000 elites of the Ming Dynasty.

Right now, all of them are watching Li Jinglong point out the mountains and rivers, and none of them have raised doubts, because most of them have followed Li Jinglong to train troops, which is why Li Jinglong can serve as the commander this time.

He has the ability and high prestige, and he is the fourth general to wear the seal of the great general after Xu Da, Feng Sheng, and Lan Yu in the Hongwu period.

"At present, the cities have been connected by a water network, and if Yan Cheng wants to go south, he can only go to Xiongxian and Baigou River, so I moved my army to Zhuozhou, which is further ahead of the Baigou River, and relied on the Huliang River to garrison."

"Less than 100 miles north from Zhuozhou is the Lugou Bridge, and after the Lugou Bridge, Beiping is close at hand."

"However, once the Lugou Bridge is taken, our army must not advance recklessly, but should rely on the Lugou Bridge to build a barracks, and rely on the Lugou River (Yongding River) to restrain the thief army."

"The south of Beiping City is a silt land, and our cavalry and foot soldiers cannot line up here, so the specific situation needs to be found out by sending Tang cavalry to investigate after taking the Lugou Bridge, and the Yan army will inevitably set up a camp on the Lugou Bridge to hinder our army."

Li Jinglong told everything that might happen when he took the Lugou Bridge, and at the same time did not forget to add: "There are many cavalry and horse infantry of the thief army, so it is necessary for Ganliang, Baotao, Hezhou and other Wei Jing cavalry to go north to investigate the enemy's situation first, and at the same time limit the speed of the thief army's horses, making it difficult for them to carry out the surprise attack of the last Zhending battle." ”

"The last general commands!" Hearing Li Jinglong's words, the two Ganliang generals and the tall Ping An responded to each other.

Among them, Li Jinglong set his eyes on a fifty-year-old veteran who was no less than six feet tall: "Marquis Yue, these 20,000 cavalry will be handed over to you." ”

"The last general commands." Yu Tongyuan, who was strong, opened his mouth and bowed his hands.

In the face of his moderation, Ping An and the others did not show any uncomfortable expressions, obviously they all knew that this veteran who fought in the south and the north and fought for half his life.

"In that case, let's all retreat, reorganize our armies, and don't slacken."

Li Jinglong did not have a detailed plan on how to take the Lugou Bridge, because he had not yet thoroughly grasped the information of the Lugou Bridge.

Before the arrival of the army, any information on the Lugou Bridge may become invalid with the change of time, and he needs to have first-hand information in order to make a correct judgment.

Even if the judgment failed, he didn't think that he would be defeated, because the 300,000 troops who arrived in the north had been almost trained by him, and if Zhu Di dared to raid him like the Battle of Zhending, he would be very happy.

Time passed little by little, and the smell of gunpowder over the Hebei Plain became stronger and stronger.

Bohai, Beiping, Shandong...... There have been varying degrees of dispatch of troops and horses in various places.

Yao Guangxiao's monk, Hu Lun's West Factory, Zhu Yunwen's Jinyi Wei......

They are all in the four activities, the difference is that Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di are wholeheartedly invested in intelligence, while Zhu Yunwen is prejudiced against Jinyiwei.

Such prejudice made the hearts of Jinyiwei fluctuate, and Hu Lun also took the opportunity to get close to many former people.

With money and goods such as ginseng, deer antler velvet and coral from the Bohai Sea, Hu Lun successfully came to the place he wanted to come.

"Tuk... Sincere... ......"

In a mansion in Huai'an City, the study room is quiet and scary, and only the sound of thumb knocking from time to time can mean that there is still life in this house.

"Yang Shanren, a quarter of an hour has passed, haven't you thought about it yet......?"

Hu Lun, who was sitting in the seat, looked sideways at the person beside him, and his slow tone revealed the identity of that person.

Yang Bin, the Huai'an businessman who Zhu Gaoxu wooed, he climbed up with his identity as a businessman in the Bohai Palace, but in recent years, he has been constantly clearing up his identity.

He may be for the sake of the family, but his approach makes Zhu Gaoxu dislike.

At the moment, Hu Lun has brought him a way to live, but whether he can catch it depends on himself.

Yang Bin looked down at the drawings in his hand, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead:

"It's going to take too many things for me to get together......"

"Yang Shanren can rest assured, I brought you 20,000 yuan this time, which is enough to buy enough food." Hu Lun interrupted him and continued:

"It's not a big help for you this time, if you help, Your Highness will not blame you for your previous actions, but if you don't help......"

Hu Lun shook his head: "Could it be that Yang Shanren thinks that the things you did are seamless, and the imperial court can't find out at all?" ”

What he said was that Yang Bin helped Bohai transport a large amount of grain, although that matter had been exposed during the Hongwu period, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not pursue it at that time.

But right now, a generation of new people replaces the old, once Bohai completely fails, Yang Bin's result can be imagined.

Yang Bin was reminded by Hu Lun and also knew this, so he gritted his teeth: "I can get it, but I ...... on the road."

"Things on the road have been taken care of, you don't have to worry." Hu Lun predicted Yang Bin's thoughts, and this sentence also made Yang Bin completely accept this task.

Not long after, Hu Lun walked out of the Yang Mansion and sent the intelligence encryption to the Bohai Sea.

It didn't take long for Zhu Gaoxu to get his information.

The addition of Yang Bin has improved Zhu Gaoxu's grasp of going south to eighty percent, and the last two percent are Denglai and Yangtze River sailors who stay in Dengzhou Bay.

"Let's go, there are still thirty miles to reach Golden State."

Zhu Gaoxu looked to the south, and behind him was the nearly 20,000 Bohai Navy that had been assembled.

Many of them were sent south before the winter of last year, while Bohai was re-recruited.

They assembled in Gaizhou and headed south, while the Jinzhou side had already assembled the third battalion of Shenji and 5,000 navies.

Under the leadership of Zhu Gaoxu, the two Bohai elites went south, and the thirty-mile road took less than two hours for this group of horse infantry and cavalry to arrive.

At present, the city of Jinzhou is at least twice as large as when it was received by Bohai last year, the snow outside the city has begun to melt, and a camp has been built in the north of the city that can be moved in at any time, and 20,000 troops have entered it under the command of Zhu Gaoxu, waiting for the order to cross the sea.

Unlike them, after Zhu Gaoxu arranged everything, he asked people to call Yang Zhan and Cui Jun, and he went to the Ordnance Bureau in Jinzhou.

The blacksmiths of the entire Liaodong were requisitioned to Jinzhou, and a compound workshop covering an area of 700 acres was built not far from the military camp in the north of the city.

The production of wrought iron, muskets, forged cannons, gunpowder, cannonballs, etc. was completed here, and more than 2,600 craftsmen of all kinds and tens of thousands of people engaged in helpers gathered.

The efficiency and output here are much higher than those of the Ordnance Bureau workshop in Blackwater City.

The specific output and efficiency were presented in front of Zhu Gaoxu with data in Wang Yuan's explanation, which hurried over.

"At present, there are more than 16,000 artillery clay molds, and no less than 5,000 artillery pieces of various types can be forged here every year, and there are no less than 40,000 muskets, and as long as the raw materials are sufficient, gunpowder is enough to produce one million catties."

"Look, this is the freshly forged and cooled siege cannon."

Wang Yuan walked in front of a cannon that was only about five feet long, it was mounted on a gun carriage, and it didn't look too big, at least compared to the various artillery pieces in Zhu Gaoxu's memory of his previous life.

"Counting the gun carriage, its weight is two thousand catties, and with two catties of standard propellant, ten catties of shells can accurately shell a distance of two miles with an angle of fire of five degrees, and when the angle of fire is ten degrees, it can reach an astonishing three miles."

"We have actually tested it, if it is used to siege the city, then even if it is made of Sanhe clay and the three-zhang thick city wall with blue bricks on the outside, it will be difficult to resist the pouring of twenty bases of a hundred siege guns."

Wang Yuan introduced all kinds of data of siege artillery, especially the three-zhang thick blue brick city wall, which can be said to be very suitable for the siege artillery data required by Zhu Gaoxu.

"What about naval guns?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked about the power of the naval artillery, and Wang Yuan also introduced it when he heard this.

"Compared with siege artillery, the weight of naval guns is made according to the standard of 3,000 catties and above, and it can shoot stone projectiles ranging from 20 catties to 30 catties, and the firing range ranges from the smallest and accurate 300 steps to the largest four miles."

"With their power, they are enough to directly penetrate the side of our army's three thousand warships."

Wang Yuan proudly introduced the artillery he had forged, and Zhu Gaoxu was also very satisfied when he reached out his hand to figure out the siege artillery.

"What is the number of artillery stocks now, and what about muskets?"

"100 siege guns, 1,200 naval guns, 14,000 arquebuses, and another 11,000 were transferred to Zhu Dudu and Meng Tongzhi for training."

From September to the present, with the joint efforts of more than 2,000 craftsmen and tens of thousands of people led by Wang Yuan, they have forged enough artillery for the navy and horse infantry, as well as enough arquebuses.

"Your Highness!"

As soon as Zhu Gaochu finished explaining everything to Wang Yuan, Yang Zhan, Cui Jun, Meng Zhang, Xu Sheng and others trotted all the way to the production line and saluted Zhu Gaoxu.

"Okay, what's the situation with the Shenji Battalion and the Navy?"

Zhu Gaoxu didn't have time to delay, he asked everyone about business, Meng Zhang set his eyes on Yang Zhan, and Yang Zhan took the lead and said:

"The 5,000 navy has been able to skillfully use arquebuses and naval guns, 40 warships have been launched and tested to confirm that there is no problem, and 12 horse ships of 3,000 materials have also been launched, and it is not a problem to transport 3,000 people at a time, and it can even be used as temporary warships."

"In addition, if there are various types of merchant ships used to transport troops, they can transport at least 2,000 people, and there are eighteen horse ships of about 2,000 materials that can also be used as temporary warships, making a total of seventy temporary and commonly used warships."

"The most difficult thing to luck is not the soldiers, but the horses." Zhu Gaoxu explained what he was worried about, but Yang Zhan also responded:

"Your Highness, please rest assured, with the current capacity, at most half a month can transport 60,000 military horses and horses to Dengzhou."

"Counting the 40,000 soldiers transported, the landing should be completed within a month."

"Good!" Zhu Gaoxu looked sideways at Meng Zhang, and Meng Zhang also said: "The left and right guards of Zhaozhou led by Ta Lost, Doer and Qi have completed their training, and the number of soldiers in the army who can master arquebuses has reached 15,000, but 5,000 of them have to be responsible for the shelling of field artillery and siege artillery, and cannot be directly put into the front line. ”

"That's enough." Zhu Gaoxu bowed, for him, 10,000 arquebusiers were enough, not to mention that these 10,000 arquebusiers were still horse infantry.

"It's February 11, and if the intelligence is not wrong, there are still four days before the Southern Army will attack."

Zhu Gaoxu's tone was calm, and he set his eyes on Yang Zhan:

"Success, I'm not proficient in water warfare, so I can only lead the army to Port Arthur to cheer for you."

"Your Highness, please rest assured!" Yang Zhanzuo responded: "If you say that when you went north before, the last general was only 20% sure that you could defeat the Southern Army's naval division, then now it is 10%!" ”

"Please wait for the good news of the last general, and the last general will not live up to the trust of His Highness!"

"Good!" Zhu Gaoxu nodded: "You leave the port in four days, and I will lead the army to Lushun to wait for your good news." ”

After that, Zhu Gaoxu led everyone to the yamen, and it was rare to let go of the prohibition of alcohol.

It's just that at the dinner table, everyone is very restrained, and they all supervise each other, and they are not allowed to get drunk.

Although there was no atmosphere in this way, everyone's restraint made Zhu Gaoxu even more confident.

He went south all the way, to be honest, he didn't fight too many tough battles, Wu Gao has been retreating without fighting, Wu Sheng, Wu Shouan and others he can't look down on, and only beckons his subordinates to deal with it.

The only thing he needed to deal with alone was the Haragu, who went south to plunder.

Although he killed Xiyangha and avenged the bloody battle of Jixiguan, fighting him did not give Zhu Gaoxu a feeling of blood.

The passion of the surprise attack on Xiyangha, the bloody battle against Jixiguan, and the preparation of Bian Modong has been too long, so long that he feels that his body seems to have rusted.

It's just that now, with the plan he had been planning for a long time finally about to be executed, he rarely ignited the passion of being outnumbered and fighting.

"Come on! Drink another bowl! ”

Raising the wine glass full of rice wine, Zhu Gaoxu asked everyone to drink a few more bowls.

It's just that the excitement didn't last until the end of the day, and Cui Jun and others put official duties first and left one after another.

They needed to go home to recuperate, but Zhu Gaoxu, who was too excited, walked out of the yamen and walked to the port of Jinzhou.

Here he saw many tall warships, which were not as majestic as the steel giants of later generations, but the only one he could rely on was them.

"I knew you weren't going to rest......"

Yang Zhan's voice sounded behind him, Zhu Gaoxu looked sideways, and he walked to Zhu Gaoxu's side with a lantern in the moonlight.

"There are some things I can't tell you at the banquet just now, but now I can."

Yang Zhan's gaze was a little worried, which made Zhu Gaoxu think of what he wanted to say.

"You mean your father?"

Zhu Gaoxu tentatively spoke, in exchange for Yang Zhan's nod:

"I want to ask Your Highness, is my father going to surrender after the war?"

"......" Zhu Gaoxu was silent, it stands to reason that he should let Yang Yu surrender, and then take over the Pingwu Water Division, all the way south.

But Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to do this, because doing so would make Zhu Yunwen worried.

What he wanted was for Yang Yu to lead the Pingwu Naval Division to break through after Denglai and the Yangtze River Naval Division were defeated, and then go all the way south to help Zhu Yunwen hold the mouth of the Yangtze River.

With him, Zhu Yunwen would not leave the capital easily, because Zhu Yunwen knew that there was a sailor guarding the mouth of the Yangtze River.

At that time, if Yang Yu suddenly surrendered, he would be able to catch Zhu Yunwen off guard.

Otherwise, once Zhu Yunwen abandoned the capital and fled to Sichuan, Huguang and other places, then this war would not end ahead of schedule as he wished, and he might have to fight for a longer time.

The burden of people's livelihood and economy in the north was on his shoulders, so he could only win this battle, not lose it.

It's just that if Yang Li's father breaks through to the south, he is likely to be convicted by Zhu Yunwen, although this possibility is not big, but it is still a possibility.

Yang Zhan had actually guessed Zhu Gaoxu's thoughts a long time ago, but he didn't ask until now.

As a son of man, he naturally did not want his father to go to the dangerous south, and he went to the south in the name of defeat.

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu was silent, he knew the answer and slowly bowed down.

"Yang Zhan......" Zhu Gaoxu looked at him and said slowly:

"The war is like this, although I don't want my uncle to go, but in order to win, I can only do this."

"Actually, the last general is not worried about ......" Yang Zhan responded after getting up, but then said:

"It's just that before you cheated to death and went north, Brother Fu said that you have changed, and I hope that the last general will advise you not to take too many risks, so the last general will come to ask."

"But in the eyes of the last general, you never fight a battle that you are not sure of, and my father will be fine."

Yang Zhan still trusts Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaochu also gave his own promise: "You let your uncle ask the court to apologize after breaking through the siege, and lead the sailor to live in Ganyu temporarily. ”

"In two months, we will join forces to take Jinling City!"

"Bohai Chronicle": "In the spring of the second year, Jinglong and Xuan transferred troops to the north, and ordered Bin and Lun to place grain stacks in various towns in Huanghuai. ”

(End of chapter)