"Beep-"

In the early morning of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, with the sound of a piercing whistle, the Bohai Navy camped in Wanshou Town began to get up in an orderly manner, put on armor, and slowly left the camp.

On a third-floor restaurant in Wanshou Town, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the direction of the whistle with a telescope, and sure enough, he saw a crowd of people slowly descending from the north.

"Yu, Ping...... It should be Yu Tongyuan and Ping'an, I didn't guess wrong. ”

Zhu Gaoxu put away the binoculars and turned his head to explain to Chen Chang, Ta Lost, Doer, Qi and others: "If they get close, they will greet them with bullets and arquebuses, and if they are far away, they will use solid bullets to fight, in short, the whole army should not fight with them in the field, the purpose of our army is not to annihilate them, but to wait for the river crossing." ”

"Yes!" Chen Chang and the others responded, and soon went downstairs to the front and rear and left and right armies.

In the north, in the open space five miles away from Wanshou Town, Yu Tongyuan squinted his eyes at the almost invisible, Bohai camp, and beside him was Ping'an riding a high-headed horse.

"According to Sheng Yanshi's words, this Bohai Shu people don't seem to be in a hurry to attack the city, as if they are waiting for something."

On horseback, Ping'an was talking with an iron gun in his hand, and Yu Tongyuan bowed his head when he heard this: "It should be waiting for the sailors at the mouth of the Yangtze River to enter the Yangtze River, but the old man heard that Chen Xuan and Yang Li have successfully repelled his sailors, if he continues to wait here, I am afraid that it will not be long before he will be evacuated because of the exhaustion of grain and grass." ”

"But that's fine, when he runs out of food and grass, we can ride lightly and flank his left and right, and capture this Bohai Shu alive."

Yu Tongyuan never understood Zhu Gaoxu's bravery, so he opened his mouth to say such things.

When Ping'an on the side heard this, he immediately reminded Yu Tongyuan and his son: "The Marquis of Yue must not despise this Bohai Shu people, who have brave strength, and have a record of fighting hundreds of people when they are outside the pass, and can also drag down wild horses, and their courage is extraordinary." ”

Fighting with Zhu Gaoxu, Ping An calmed down, not as impulsive as when he fought with Zhu Di, clamoring to capture his boss alive.

"Fighting 100 people, this is indeed a remarkable record, but it is nothing." Yu Tongyuan chuckled and stroked his beard, it was not that he looked down on Zhu Gaoxu, but that the hundred people who were killed in the early Ming Dynasty could not be regarded as a very outstanding record.

Fu Youde, Hua Yun, Qu Neng father and son, as well as his Yu family father and son, all have a record of more than 100 people, but except for Hua Yun, there is really no fierce general like Zhu Gaoxu who can kill 100 people on foot.

Thinking of Zhu Gaoxu's bravery, Yu Tongyuan was a little eager to try, wanting to see if this Zhu Gaochu was touted by everyone or really had the ability.

Yu Jing, who was riding behind the two of them, was holding the long knife at his waist, eager to kill in the Bohai Sea Array now to see how great Zhu Gaoxu's skills were.

It's a pity that their wishes were disappointed, and for a whole day, Zhu Gaoxu didn't make any moves, and he showed that he wanted to fight a protracted war with them.

Of course, Zhu Gaoxu didn't do nothing, at least the Yangtze River sailor sent good news.

"Okay, with the help of Chen Xuan and Yang Li, our speed of crossing the river will be a few days faster than expected."

After getting the news of Chen Xuan and Yang Li's surrender, Zhu Gaoxu did not rush to drive them, because at present, Yang Zhan, Xu Sheng and others had not yet arrived in Changzhou Mansion, let alone Yingtianfu, which was hundreds of miles away.

As the besieging party, Zhu Gaoxu could still be calm, but the Jianwen court, as the defender of the city, kept urging Sheng Yong, Ping'an and others to test the Bohai soldiers and horses, so that Wu Gao and Li Jian could quickly launch an attack when they led their troops south.

"Fixed-shot loading, pre-...... Put!! ”

"Boom, boom—"

At noon on the ninth day of the first lunar month, when the sound of artillery sounded in Wanshou Town, north of the Yangtze River, the cavalry in Beijing, which had received the military order of the imperial court and tested the strength of the Bohai Sea, began to try to attack the Bohai Navy.

However, they were greeted by a dense array of flowering bullets and solid bullets that were enough to penetrate three or five soldiers.

During a trial, the cavalry of the Southern Army lost dozens of people, which made Yu Tongyuan very distressed.

Yu Tongyuan didn't dare to despise Zhu Gaochu anymore, so he could only withdraw his cavalry, described in detail the sharpness of the firearms of the Bohai Navy to the imperial court, and said bluntly: "Your Majesty only has this kind of belongings, if Yangzhou is in danger, Jiangnan will be lost." ”

Yu Tongyuan's heartfelt words did not win Zhu Yunwen's respect, but felt that he was undermining his own morale.

Fortunately, Huainan has no generals to change, otherwise Zhu Yunwen may even have to replace Yu Tongyuan.

In the midst of such a stalemate, the sound of peace began to sound in the temples of the capital on the 10th day of the first month of April.

The ministers of the six ministries were divided into two groups, one group thought that Liaodong could be canonized to Zhu Gaoxu to set up a state, and Daning and the Beiping area north of the Baigou River could be set up to set up a country for Zhu Di.

The other group believed that the Yangtze River moat was insurmountable, and Zhu Gaoxu was only able to do it for a moment, and when he ran out of food and grass, he had to withdraw his troops.

The two classes of ministers argued, but still did not come to a conclusion.

Everyone knows that the emperor wants to negotiate peace very much at the moment, but he is worried that he will lose his royal prestige if he opens up to negotiate peace, so he wants the minister to put forward the idea of peace himself.

However, none of the six Shangshu opened his mouth, and it was difficult to find a powerful minister in the temple.

Time faded little by little, and with the arrival of the 11th, the sky began to become gloomy, as if there was a rainy season coming.

"Your Highness, it looks like it's going to rain?"

In the camp of Wanshou Town, when Chen Chang opened his mouth with a worried face, Zhu Gaoxu raised his hand calmly: "Don't worry, you still use muskets and artillery to defend against the enemy according to the previous arrangement." ”

Zhu Gaoxu was not worried about the approaching plum rain, but Sheng Yong, Yu Tongyuan, Ping'an and others were excited for a long time.

Under their watchful eyes, the plum rain began to fall, turning the outside of Yangzhou into a muddy place.

Faced with this situation, the Bohai Navy treated it as usual, but the Southern Army began to reorganize its army and prepare to meet the enemy.

When the rainy season stopped, 60,000 troops from the north and south of Yangzhou City began to march towards Wanshou Town in the east.

They made pontoon bridges with planks and flat boats, and the 60,000-strong army began to slowly land on the east bank, while Yu Tongyuan, Ping'an and others in the north also led the cavalry out of the camp, feeling the mud after the rainy season, and paying attention to Sheng Yong's department.

"This group of people, let them confront us and not be grateful to us, is it so difficult to stay honest and wait for Your Highness to enter the capital?"

Ta lost a complaint, and Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the situation of Sheng Yong's department.

I have to say that Sheng Yong does have a hand in training, and the 40,000 troops have begun to take shape under the leadership of 20,000 elite soldiers, and it is no wonder that the corps led by Sheng Yong can be penetrated by the cavalry three times without collapsing.

However, if he is not mistaken, the elite led by Sheng Yong should be the left and right guards of Yulin.

For a while, Zhu Gaoxu recalled Wang Jian, Wu Zhangyi and others back then.

It's a pity that they didn't seize the opportunity at the beginning, otherwise they wouldn't have become an ant now, trampled in the tens of thousands of troops.

With the passage of time, when the Yangzhou Jianghuai Army crossed the canal under the command of Sheng Yong and arrived at the east bank of the canal, Yu Tongyuan and others in the north also began to urge war horses to patrol the place about two miles outside the Bohai Navy.

"The artillery of the Bohai Pirate Army has a break time, and our army must disperse and break in, and then find a place to break into the formation and disrupt their formation."

Yu Tongyuan opened his mouth to say something that seemed to be very easy, but only the people around him could understand how difficult it was to do this.

Soon, tens of thousands of iron cavalry were ready, and at the same time, Sheng Yong also seized the opportunity and began to launch an attack on the whole army after the whole army.

"Woo-woo-"

"Boom... Boom... Knock ......"

The sound of trumpets and drums sounded one after another, and compared with the abundant command objects of the Southern Army, the Bohai Navy only had the simple wooden whistle.

But this is the case, when the wooden whistle is sounded in unison, the so-called drum is still suppressed by the whistle.

"Fixed-firing loading, artillery waiting for the Chinese army's military order, and the front army's spear array is ready to resist the enemy."

Zhu Gaoxu sat in the center of the army, and Chen Chang went to lead the 15,000 front troops facing Sheng Yong's 60,000 people.

The front army had no artillery, only pikes and arquebuses.

Rao is like this, in the face of the southern army's pressing step by step, Chen Chang did not order a counterattack at all, but watched them approach.

"Fifty Steps ......"

"Forty Steps ......"

"Shoot the arrow!!"

The southern army began to release arrows, and Chen Chang was still calculating the distance between the two armies, and finally released the Tang cavalry when the southern army reached a distance of about twenty paces, and more than a dozen Tang cavalry blew wooden whistles.

"Bang Bang Bang

Thousands of lead bullets were shot from behind the thick white mist, and not only that, but the sound of the row of guns did not stop, but lasted for three consecutive rounds before the figure began to move.

It's just that at the moment, Sheng Yong can no longer care about the movements of the Bohai Navy, because in his eyes, the 60,000 soldiers and horses he trained are falling in pieces at the moment.

For a while, the spear array arranged by Sheng Yong was punched out by the arquebus, although the Bohai Navy did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, but this scene made the Southern soldiers who were charging around him timid.

There were muskets among them, but their muskets were mainly used in conjunction with spears, so when the front spear formation collapsed, the whole army immediately stopped.

"Don't be timid, press on the firearms!"

Sheng Yong dared to go out of the city to fight against Zhu Gaoxu, so he naturally had a certain grasp of it.

He ordered the left and right Tang cavalry, and soon the news of the whole army continuing to march came, while at the same time the musketeers of the Bohai navy retreated, and the pikemen were on top.

Yu Tongyuan and Ping'an in the north did not hear the artillery sound of the Bohai Navy for a long time, so they did not dare to charge at all.

The main reason why the Bohai Navy dared to use muskets to fight back at close range was that they were not forced to go to the battlefield, but relied on their own extraordinary courage and firm military qualities.

They are invincible, not by hitting stones with eggs, but by all kinds of sophisticated equipment.

As the world's most elite army at this time, every soldier in Bohai needs to master the queue and basic tactical, drafting, and literacy skills in order to be successfully selected.

In terms of tactics, the Bohai Navy uses a linear formation, in the sound of horns, rows of soldiers slowly advance on the battlefield, as long as there is one person, no member of the team will choose to retreat, until the opponent is defeated.

Needless to say, this kind of platoon shooting at the beginning of the 15 th century could completely form a crushing force for the armies of other countries, and even the elite that Zhu Yuanzhang had trained for 31 years could not confront the Bohai Navy head-on.

"Don't be greedy for merit, continue to defend the camp."

Zhu Gaoxu sat in the Chinese army, watching the southern army being attacked and retreating.

However, compared with stepping up the training of the troops for half a month, the elite of Shangzhi who walked out of the capital with Sheng Yong did show a strong side.

With nearly one-tenth of the soldiers in the front row killed, the Shangzhi elite continued to charge, and the spears of the Southern Army successfully collided with the Bohai Navy.

"Your Highness, Sheng Yong used the troops as cannon fodder, and successfully sent Yulin and other elites to engage our army in a short battle."

"See."

Chen Chang rode a horse to the Chinese army to report the situation, but Zhu Gaoxu was still calm and did not show his worries for half a year.

"Continue to attack Sheng Yong's department in the reincarnation of spears and arquebuses, I want to see how long they can hold out."

Zhu Gaoxu's understatement succeeded in making the 60,000 Jianghuai Southern Army encounter the most stubborn resistance.

The combination of muskets and spears made the Bohai Navy invincible, and the excellent medical system also made it very easy for the Bohai Navy to rescue the wounded on the battlefield.

A bottle of wine, a copper needle, and a sheep intestine surgery line have become the best means of first aid on the battlefield.

Seeing that the Bohai Navy was standing still, Yu Tongyuan finally couldn't help it, and finally chose to give the order to attack.

"Buzz—"

The dull sound of horses' hooves sounded, but they had to face more than a hundred tents set up outside the town.

When the curtain was lifted, the Bohai naval artillery, which had been prepared early, began to wield.

"Boom, boom—"

The dull sound of cannons almost pierced the dark clouds over Yangzhou City, and hundreds of iron cannonballs crossed a distance of one mile, successfully smashing horses and cavalry to death, and yellow and white things were scattered all over the ground.

Of course, their charge won a momentary opportunity.

After the artillery was fired, the next artillery could not be fired within a word, and Yu Tongyuan, Ping'an and others led the iron cavalry to penetrate the right army of the Bohai Sea.

Seeing this, the tower stationed here immediately raised the command flag in his hand: "Musketeers prepare!" ”

"Beep-"

With the sound of a piercing whistle and the cavalry rushing into a distance of two hundred paces, the Bohai naval musketeers began to raise their muskets and wait for their own orders to shoot.

Even if it was the cavalry that launched the charge this time, the musketeers of the Bohai Navy were not afraid.

"Beep!"

A piercing whistle sounded, and the Confederate cavalry was asked to shoot at a distance of fifty paces.

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

Under Zhu Gaoxu's gaze, the 3,000 musketeers began to change their spears after the shooting, and the soldiers in the back gathered their arquebuses and retreated.

In an instant, thousands of pikemen gathered to form a pikeman array that was deadly to the cavalry.

In the past, in the face of such a spear array, Yu Tongyuan would wait for his own artillery support, but their artillery was like a passive target in front of the Bohai Navy.

He did not retreat, but observed Zhu Gaoxu's means of changing the formation of the enemy.

Obviously, Zhu Gaoxu has grown a lot compared to when he fought Wu Gao, and the 40,000 troops under his command are invulnerable, unless they insist on charging.

But if that happens, the last 10,000 cavalry left in the imperial court is estimated to be buried here.

"Withdraw!"

Yu Tongyuan did not continue to entangle with Zhu Gaoxu, but Ming Jin ordered the cavalry to retreat.

Seeing the cavalry retreating, Sheng Yong had no choice but to lead his troops and horses to retreat.

For a time, there was nothing on the battlefield except the smell of gunpowder smoke and some wailing wounded.

"Your Highness, what do you mean by saying that they are so tempting to fight?"

In his opinion, Yu Tongyuan and Sheng Yong's attack on his own side was completely more than worth the loss, and it was better to wait for Wu Gao and Li Jian to go south.

However, in this regard, Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Ta Lost: "Sometimes it is not that they want to fight, but that the people behind them force them to fight." ”

"Oh ......" The tower didn't seem to understand, and Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the Yangtze River in the south when he saw this.

The Yangtze River was five or six miles away from them, and there were many boats cruising on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Looking at the ships, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know how Meng Zhang and Xu Sheng were doing, but he knew the position of his eldest brother, and he was afraid that he couldn't sit still.

"More than 3,000 dead and wounded......"

In the Wuying Palace, Zhu Yunwen held the military report that had just arrived in the capital from Yangzhou, he couldn't believe that the Shangzhi and the cavalry in Beijing, who were regarded as the elite of the world, couldn't even bring back the corpse of a Bohai soldier who died in battle.

He looked at the military newspaper in his hand and was in a trance.

Facing his trance, Zhu Sui, the summoned king of the valley, stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, at present, the Bohai pirates cannot cross the river, our army can use a delaying strategy, temporarily negotiate peace, and then recruit township warriors in various parts of the south of the Yangtze River to resist the enemy and thieves." ”

Zhu Sui, the king of the valley, as a vassal king who had a good relationship with Zhu Yunwen, did not degrade him as a commoner, but put him in the capital and entertained him with delicious food and drink.

Today, he was able to appear in the Wuying Palace, all because Huang Zicheng and the others thought that the plan to delay the army was feasible, so he could appear here.

Zhu Yunwen's idea was very simple, that is, to let Zhu Sui, the king of the valley, go to Wanshou Town, Yangzhou, and discuss the matter of peace with Zhu Gaoxu in detail.

When the local township is recruited, Zhu Yunwen will go north again to suppress the traitors.

In this regard, Zhu Sui is not worried, after all, he is also Zhu Gaoxu's uncle, it is impossible for Zhu Gaoxu to kill anyone, and he is just passing on a message, there is no need to bully him.

"In that case, let's ask Uncle Nineteen to take a trip."

Zhu Yunwen came back to his senses and waved his hand at Zhu Sui.

Seeing that he had something to do, Zhu Sui immediately turned around and withdrew from Wuying Palace, preparing to go to Yangzhou early tomorrow morning to persuade Zhu Gaoxu to negotiate peace.

But after he left, Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai, Fang Xiaoru, Tyrant Zhao and others began to speak one after another.

"This Bohai pirate army has been entrenched in Yangzhou, I'm afraid it's waiting for the Bohai Sea Division to defeat the Ping Wa Water Division."

"That's right, the minister thinks that he should send a prison army to supervise the Pingwei and Yangtze River sailors."

"The Pingwei and the Yangtze River sailors are the lifeblood of the imperial court, and they must not be lost."

"Your Majesty is ...... decided"

After all, when the imperial court issued treasure money to the Yangtze River and Pingwei water divisions, it had already hurt the morale of the two water divisions, even if they were rewarded more now, I am afraid it would not achieve any effect.

"Your Majesty!"

Suddenly, there was a singing sound outside the hall, and after a while, Xu Zengshou walked in from outside the hall, and his hands were playing.

"Cao Guogong has a sparse performance, and the Yanshu people have withdrawn fifty miles, and it seems that they are not ready to fight with our army at the Baigou River."

After Zhu Gaoxu's reminder, Xu Zengshou took the initiative to transmit the military information in the north to Zhu Yunwen, which made Zhu Yunwen very surprised.

He remembered that Xu Zengshou basically didn't participate in the concerts related to Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, what happened now?

"Mr. Qi ......"

Zhu Yunwen looked at Qi Tai, but Qi Tai frowned when he heard this: "Come to think of it, the Yanshu people should have learned about the surprise attack on Huaidong by the Bohai Shu people, and they are now confronting our army, trying to exhaust our army's food." ”

There are indeed tens of millions of stones of grain in the canal water warehouse, but these grains have long been emptied by Zhu Yunwen's wanton squandering in the past two years, and even 10 million stones may not be able to be collected now.

If you count the rations of the people, these 10 million stone grains can last at most a year.

"Do you want to transfer troops south?"

Zhu Yunwen asked Qi Tai, but Qi Tai shook his head: "At the moment, the Yangzhou Bohai Pirate Army seems to be prepared, otherwise it would not have been camping in the local area for a few days." ”

"What our army needs to care about is the sailors and the Yangtze River, and we must not let the Bohai Shu people get the Yangtze River and warships."

Qi Tai explained the situation, and continued to talk about the situation in the capital: "At present, there are more than 10,000 soldiers in the capital, plus 60,000 soldiers and horses, including soldiers and horses, and Xiangyong. ”

"Although it is already solid, we still need to recruit more people to prepare for emergencies."

"Bohai Chronicle": "Shang Yi succeeded, Meng Zhang crossed the river, and there were like-minded people, although Jianwenjun intended to negotiate peace, but Shang politely refused. ”

"Ming Shizong Record": "On April 11, Yong and Tongyuan led troops to attack Wanshou Town, and the army was defeated, because Jiangnan was sad when he heard this battle, and the ministers wanted to negotiate peace. ”

(End of chapter)