"It's twelve, isn't it?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

In the empty wine shop in Wanshou Town, Zhu Gaoxu stood on the corridor and looked at the battlefield where the plum rain was falling, and subconsciously asked Chen Chang.

Chen Chang subconsciously replied, and Zhu Gaoxu also spoke: "According to the time, Yang Zhan and Xu Sheng should have passed through the Longtan Water Station. ”

"At most, tomorrow morning, they will be able to reach Jiangning Town, and the troops will be divided into three ways to outflank the three roads of the capital to break through to the south."

"yes, the day has finally come." Chen Chang sighed, after all, there was also a saying of loyalty and patriotism in the Bohai education they received, and for the civil war, except for the Jurchen Bawei who had not received education, the rest of the people still had some resistance in their hearts.

It's just that the day of the end of the civil war is finally coming, as long as the last two days are spent safely, the overall situation of the world will be decided.

"Meng Zhang of Baogang, are they ready?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked, Chen Chang bowed his head: "There are still some military horses that have not arrived, but there should be no problem with arriving before tonight, just ......"

Chen Chang glanced at the plum rain outside the wine shop, and his face was worried: "If this plum rain continues until late at night, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the four thousand cavalry to run all one hundred and forty miles." ”

"Even if only half of them can reach Nanjing, the time is enough." Zhu Gaoxu squinted at the cavalry camp of the Southern Army in the north.

Although it was far away, he could see that the cavalry of the Southern Army had no intention of sending troops today.

This is not surprising, the early Ming Dynasty was very valuable for cavalry, as a general, few people dared to use cavalry in the rainy season continuously.

This is not only the Ming Dynasty, but even the Tang Dynasty, which had more cavalry than the Ming Dynasty.

Li Shimin and Wei Chigong discussed the question of whether to use cavalry after the rain, and Wei Chigong believed that the land was muddy after the rain, and the common use of cavalry would make the horse's hooves rot, and the gains outweighed the losses.

However, in the face of his idea, Li Shimin vetoed it, believing that as long as he could win and achieve a large enough result, it would be worth losing tens of thousands of war horses.

The dialogue between the two actually represents the attitude of the general and the king.

As a general, you can't regard the soldiers and horses as your own property, once you lose too many soldiers and horses, even if you have merit, you can't afford it.

However, for the monarch, as long as he can win the victory, even if he loses more soldiers and horses, as long as the monarch feels that it is worthwhile, then there is no such thing.

Just like yesterday, Sheng Yong and Yu Tongyuan lost at least three or four thousand people, but now they are still leading the troops to fight here, all because yesterday's dispatch was Zhu Yunwen who gave them a military order, and they only cared about carrying it out, even if there were casualties, Zhu Yunwen could not punish them, after all, the military order was issued by him.

If he punishes Sheng Yong, Yu Tongyuan and others, he will slap himself in the face, which is equivalent to saying that he made a mistake in decision-making.

For Zhu Yunwen, who has a good face, wanting him to admit that he made a mistake in decision-making is something that will never happen.

However, after suffering yesterday's loss, even if Zhu Yunwen was in a hurry to succeed, he did not dare to continue to lose more than 60,000 soldiers and horses of Jianghuai.

If these 60,000 people are wiped out before Wu Gao and Li Jian go south, then things will be big by then.

"The Tang Cavalry sent out yesterday should be able to reach Haimen today, right?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Chen Chang, and Chen Chang bowed: "Two hundred miles away, one person and three horses, should be able to arrive at Haimen at around 15 o'clock in Shenshi, and if Chen Xuan and Yang Yu are sincere, they should let go of the Yangtze River estuary and go upstream with Zheng Jun." ”

"Judging from the speed at which Yang Zhan and them are swimming upstream, they will be able to reach our army's Jiangnan in about five days and escort our army across the river to Nanjing."

"But compared to them, after Cui Jun sends the last batch of military horses to Baogang today, he will continue to swim upstream, and he will probably arrive at Jiangnan of our army at dusk tomorrow."

"Although their scale is not large, they can also go back and forth three times a day and send our army to Zhenjiang in the south."

Chen Chang explained the situation, and Zhu Gaoxu shook his head when he heard this: "How many horse infantry can you send three times?" ”

"There should be six thousand." Chen Chang said, and Zhu Gaoxu also put his mind at ease.

survive today, tomorrow will be the day when he surrounds the capital and watches Zhu Yunwen sing for the last time.

"The overall situation has been decided, release the pigeon to Dengzhou, and call Yisha to lead 2,000 horse infantry from Dengzhou to Baoding, ready to appease the 200,000 troops under Li Jinglong."

"I will send eight hundred li to the north in an expedited manner later, so that he does not have to worry."

Zhu Gaoxu mentioned the holy decree, which made Chen Chang pause.

He glanced at Zhu Gaoxu cautiously, and said tentatively: "Your Highness, many brothers have been discussing the matter of the throne recently. ”

"In this Jingjing, our army has won the most cities, and the defeated southern army is not less than His Royal Highness King Yan, and it is also ...... to break through the capital."

Chen Chang's words were not finished, because he saw Zhu Gaoxu glancing at him, and immediately closed his mouth.

"You are all heroes, and there will be no less titles and rewards you deserve, as for the throne is my family affair, you don't have to worry."

Zhu Gaoxu's words are very far-fetched, after all, the generals of Bohai are betting on him, and Zhu Di's accession to the throne is an uncertainty for everyone, who knows if Zhu Di will purge Bohai in the future.

Although at the moment, the Yan army is obviously inferior to Bohai, but after Zhu Di became the emperor, there were too many resources that could be mobilized.

If it weren't for Zhu Gaoxu's final explanation of "don't worry", Chen Chang would have doubted whether his Royal Highness was a little stupid.

"Wait with peace of mind, any choice I make is based on the interests of all the brothers, so don't worry."

"What's more, my father is not a narrow-minded person, if you don't believe it, you can ask Wang Yi."

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and walked down the wine shop, and Chen Chang, who was left, looked at his back when he saw this.

When Zhu Gaoxu went downstairs, Chen Chang stood in place and thought for a long time, only to see a few 'sneaky' figures appear at the staircase after a while.

"Chen Chang, what's going on?"

Ta Shi and Dol Heqi, Nimatsa, Tarachi and others cautiously walked up to the wine shop and asked Chen Chang.

When Chen Chang heard this, he could only explain Zhu Gaoxu's original words, and then said: "Since His Highness said so, then we can rest assured, after all, His Highness never does things that he is not sure of." ”

"What's more, just this time to go south, His Royal Highness does not secretly communicate with King Yan, His Royal Highness cannot be foolish, even if King Yan becomes the emperor, His Royal Highness must be the prince."

"Then you have to be on guard!" Ta Shi glared: "What if King Yan can't think clearly, what kind of prince does he want to make the crown prince?" ”

"That can't be!" Chen Chang was determined, and Nimatsa even opened his mouth when he heard this:

"If King Yan wants to be the emperor, His Royal Highness must be the prince, if not, I will personally lead an ambush and force His Royal Highness King Yan to be the prince!"

"Good!"

"Nimatsa, you're a man!"

Nimatsa's words won the applause of Tashi and others.

Chen Chang looked at this group of guys, and could only sigh secretly: "This group of barbarians ......"

He wasn't worried that Zhu Gaoxu would get angry when he heard this, after all, Ta Shu's group was still a group of illiterate people two years ago.

Even after two years of studying while fighting, the primitive habits in his body are still retained.

Many of the words that are rebellious inside the customs are sparse and ordinary small things when placed outside the customs.

Zhu Gaoxu is not as knowledgeable as these semi-illiterate people, and if they are allowed to read more books another day, they will know how perverse their words are.

"Let's go to the camp separately, don't be touched by the Southern Army."

Chen Chang waved his hand to drive away a few people, but they didn't think Chen Chang was rude to them, but left happily: "Our butts are not easy to touch, not as soft as our Han people's buttocks." ”

"You barbarian......" Chen Chang was amused by these people and drove them away.

However, when they were discussing the big rebellion, Zhu Yunwen was always in an uncertain mood in the capital.

He summoned Fang Xiaoru to explain the classics of history to him, and the two sat opposite each other in the Wuying Palace, chatting from morning to dusk, but Rao explained the rise and fall of the dynasties clearly, but he could not explain the current situation clearly.

"From ancient times to the present, I am afraid that I am the first emperor to be beaten to the Yangtze River so quickly because of the cutting of the domain."

Zhu Yunwen fell behind, and Fang Xiaoru, who was sitting opposite him, heard this, and immediately comforted Zhu Yunwen and said:

"Your Majesty, why bother yourself, there are still hundreds of thousands of troops in the imperial court at the moment, although the thieves and soldiers have been in Yangzhou for a short time, but Your Majesty is sitting on the Yangtze River, not to mention that Xichuan Qu Neng's father and son have led Xichuan soldiers and horses out of Sichuan, and it only takes ten days to arrive in the capital."

"At that time, Wu Gao and Li Jian in the north should also arrive in Jianghuai, our army has no less than 200,000 soldiers and horses, how can we not be able to deal with this Bohai pirate army of 40,000 soldiers and horses?"

Fang Xiaoru is still stuck in paper data, but for people like Zhu Yunwen, paper data is his last fig leaf.

"Your Majesty......"

As soon as Fang Xiaoru finished speaking, Li Quan walked into the Wuying Hall and said, "Wuding Marquis Guo Ying asks to see him." ”

"Nope." Zhu Yunwen frowned and refused, Guo Ying kept asking to see him in the past few days, but he heard too many alarmist words, Zhu Yunwen himself felt a little weak, so he simply didn't listen.

He didn't believe that he had hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and he could still be blocked in the capital by Zhu Gaoxu, who had less than 40,000 soldiers and horses.

"Yes......"

Li Quan heard the words and withdrew from the Wuying Palace, and saw Guo Ying wearing a python robe outside the hall.

He said to Guo Ying: "Marquis Wuding, Your Majesty is gone, please go back to the house." ”

"Alas......" Hearing that Zhu Yunwen didn't want to see him, Guo Ying could only sigh, turned around and left with his back.

Since Zhu Gaochu stopped in Wanshou Town and stopped moving, Guo Ying roughly guessed that Zhu Gaochu must have a back hand.

In his opinion, Zhu Gaoxu's only available backhand is nothing more than a water master.

Therefore, he has been reminding Zhu Yunwen to care about the sailor and not to criticize the sailor, lest the sailor defect to the enemy.

It's okay for this kind of talk to come out once or twice once or twice, but it appears every day, which is a bit of a blow to your morale.

From ancient times to the present, there have been no examples of the Northern Army going south and the Southern Army surrendering en masse.

No one cared about Guo Ying's words, which made him feel that he was old and couldn't keep up with the times.

With his back scrouched, he left the Forbidden City before the end of the twilight drum.

But he didn't know that at the same time as the twilight drums of the Forbidden City stopped, a group of 4,000 men and horses with armor on their backs successfully converged at Baogang, which was one hundred and forty miles away from Nanjing.

The commander of this team was Meng Zhang, who was entrusted with important tasks by Zhu Gaoxu.

Seeing Meng Zhang carrying the armor and skillfully turning over the horse, Cui Jun's eyes were full of envy: "This soldier's work in the city is enough to get a knighthood, right?" ”

"You can really get a knighthood for your work of crossing the river." Meng Zhang smiled heartily.

Perhaps it was God's help, the rainy season finally stopped, although I don't know if it will continue to rain after nightfall, but for Meng Zhang and the others, a few hours less, they can reach the capital faster.

"Be careful, don't be caught off guard by the Southern Army."

Cui Jun reminded, and Meng Zhang also bowed his head and said: "There are two hundred brothers on each side of my army, don't worry." ”

"You should hurry up, don't wait for me to surround the capital, you haven't even touched Zhenjiang."

"You ......" Cui Jun smiled helplessly, the speed of sailing against the current was too slow, and an hour was only five or six miles, on the other hand, the cavalry of Meng Zhang and others could run at least more than thirty miles in an hour.

Meng Zhang: They ran for an hour, which was enough for Cui Jun to work hard for five or six hours.

"Gone!"

Meng Zhang shook the reins of the horse and no longer delayed time with Cui Jun.

Looking at his back leaving, Cui Jun also turned around and got on the warship, looked at the sky that was about to darken, and said: "Go to Wanshou Water Station!" ”

The two parted ways, and the two troops also marched according to Zhu Gaoxu's plan.

The momentum of the 4,000 cavalry rush can be described as huge, but because Meng Zhang and the others are all soldiers from Jiangnan recruited by Zhu Gaoxu, their familiarity with Jiangnan is no worse than that of the southern soldiers.

In order to pursue time, Meng Zhang and the others went directly to the official road, but whenever they encountered a post station, they immediately robbed the post station horses and tied the post guards.

When night falls, the April sky during the rainy season is filled with dark clouds, which obscure the light of the moonlight.

The faint light of the torches tore through the darkness, but their light was too faint to illuminate the way forward.

Many military horses and horses lost their front hooves, and even some soldiers unfortunately fell, and suffered not to mention the injuries, and some unlucky military horses even broke their forelimbs because of this, becoming a waste horse.

Faced with such a price, the soldiers had no time to complain and be discouraged, all they could do was grit their teeth and stand up, change into horses stolen from the post station, and follow the attacking army from a distance.

From the fourth quarter of the hour (20 o'clock) to the fourth quarter of the hour (0 o'clock), it did not continue to rain, but the harsh environment still made the Bohai cavalry continue to fall behind.

Meng Zhang didn't give the cavalry much to rest, resting for a quarter of an hour every thirty miles, but even so, in just two hours, such a high-intensity march still reduced the number of Bohai cavalry by one-third, and at this moment they were still half the way to the end.

"Brother Meng, let's let the brothers rest for a quarter of an hour longer, Ma can't stand it anymore!"

A commander caught up and told Meng Zhang about the situation in the rear with a heartache, but in the face of his words, Meng Zhang conveyed Zhu Gaoxu's military orders with a cold face.

"The capital must be surrounded before dawn, even if all the horses run away, it must be done."

"Do you want to disobey His Highness's military orders?"

"Don't dare to ......" gritted his teeth, and the commander slowly retreated.

An hour later, they managed to run ninety miles, and hijacked the post here, feeding the horses and fodder and water in the post station.

The cold temperatures and the fatigue of long-term exercise made the muscles of many military horses begin to spasm, and the cavalrymen looked at their comrades uncomfortably, and could only use their hands to help them rub the cramps.

Almost all of the horses were so tired that they lay on the ground for three hours and ninety miles, which was far beyond their capabilities, not to mention the terrible conditions.

The post guards at the post station were so frightened by the menacing 2,000 cavalry that they could only watch with a blank eye as they carried bags of horse feed from the treasury, split them with knives, and grabbed a handful of them to feed their own horses, regardless of the horse feed scattered on the ground.

"This is a military horse, how can you use a military horse as a cattle......"

Looking at the group of military horses who were so tired that they couldn't even eat anything, the horsemen at the post station were heartbroken, and at the same time wondered why there were so many cavalry in the land south of the Yangtze River.

"Since you can see it, then I won't hide it."

Meng Zhang's words sounded in the ears of the post station manager, who was not a fool, he naturally knew that this group of cavalry was probably not his own family, after all, they had not shown any tokens from the beginning to the present.

"The lower officials don't dare... The lower officials dare not ......"

Yi Cheng hurriedly responded, and didn't say anything he didn't dare.

"Don't you dare, what?" Meng Zhang took a bite of the steamed steamed bun at the post station, and then said:

"We are the cavalry of His Highness Bohai, and we are going to the capital now."

"Presumably you should also know that except for the capital and Zhenjiang, there are still some soldiers and horses in this land south of the Yangtze River, the rest of the places are empty, otherwise there would not be no news to you until now."

Meng Zhang's words made Yi Cheng's face pale, and since he heard Meng Zhang's words, he knew the identity of Meng Zhang and the others.

In addition, Meng Zhang's words are indeed right, now Jiangnan has been transferred several times, not to mention the soldiers, and there are not even many soldiers.

Therefore, if you rush overnight and avoid some county seats, you can run for dozens of miles without being known to outsiders.

It's just that he doesn't know what Meng Zhang is saying these words to himself for.

"If you know each other and draft a Zhenjiang dispatch order for me, just say that we are the cavalry from Jiangbei in Jingnan, and I can protect you afterwards."

Meng Zhang said what he wanted, but these words made Yi Cheng's face pale.

As a post station under Zhenjiang, he is naturally familiar with the handwriting of Zhenjiang Bingcao, but forging an order is a capital crime, not to mention helping the thief army forge an order.

"Xiaguan... Xiaguan... There is no seal here. Yi Cheng was sweating profusely, and he could only come up with this excuse that didn't look like an excuse.

"Bring the one who carved the seal that Bao Gang caught."

As soon as Meng Zhang spoke, Yi Cheng immediately sat down on the ground.

Not long after, a man in a cloth coat was led up by two Bohai cavalrymen, and at this moment his face was full of snot and tears, obviously already knowing what kind of rebellious thing he was going to do.

"Please show the person who engraved the order sent by Zhenjiang Bing Cao before, he will definitely be able to forge a copy."

Meng Zhang didn't give Yi Cheng a chance to quibble, so he directly took off the long knife on his waist and slapped it on the table and in Yi Cheng's heart.

"Xiaguan...... Let's go ......."

With a sad face, the post man walked into the post station under the supervision of two soldiers, and in a short time he took a few orders from the soldiers.

Under the supervision of the soldiers, the person who carved the seal could only cry as he took out the tools from the pile of bits and pieces on his body and began to forge the seal of the soldier.

Looking at the clumsy technique, Yi Cheng felt weak in his heart: "This... This... I'm afraid this can't be hidden from other post stations. ”

"Don't worry, I won't give them time to identify."

Meng Zhang took a cup of coarse tea and drank it all, but his eyes were on the horses resting outside the post station.

The rest time had already exceeded a quarter of an hour, but Meng Zhang did not give the order to pull it out.

The soldiers were heartbroken, and he was not.

The opportunity to engrave is just the right time to give them a little more rest.

After that, there are still fifty miles to reach the capital, and counting the distance around the capital, there are at least sixty or seventy miles.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhang's eyes looked in the direction they came.

In that direction, there were indeed a lot of sporadic fires, those were the cavalry that had fallen behind on the road, and they were struggling to catch up at the moment.

Some people took advantage of the rest time to catch up, but many more did not.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and as the engraved seal was finally engraved, the military dispatch order imitated by Yi Cheng was also written.

When the seal was stamped, Yi Cheng knew that he was completely on the thief ship, and if the Bohai Navy could not take the capital, then he would have to be razed by the three clans.

"It's over......"

Yi Cheng closed his eyes in pain and sighed in the sky.

At the same time, Meng Zhang also ordered the whole army to continue to hurry at the same time as the order was written.

Two quarters of an hour's rest was only added by six or seven hundred brothers who had caught up, and many more were yet to come.

It's just that at this time, Meng Zhang couldn't take care of them anymore, and continued to rush to the capital with less than 3,000 brothers.

With this forged order, it was much easier for them to march along the way, and every time a post wanted to find out the authenticity of the order, he would be scolded by Meng Zhang.

Helpless, Yi Cheng could only let them go, and at the same time sent a message to Zhenjiang after they left, asking about the truth of the matter.

However, their news was destined to stop Meng Zhang, and the Bohai Spirit he led galloped on the muddy official road, and soon walked out of Zhenjiang Mansion and entered the territory of Yingtianfu.

After a short rest of a quarter of an hour, Meng Zhang galloped towards the capital, which was still thirty miles away, and it was only six quarters (4:30).

The news of the Zhenjiang post station arrived at the Zhenjiang Yamen, but when the Zhenjiang soldier Cao sent by the imperial court heard that a cavalry was going straight to the capital with his own order, the soldier Cao immediately collapsed from his chair and sat on the ground.

"It's over...... It's over......"

"Wang Bingcao, you should notify the capital as soon as possible!"

Wang Bingcao was paralyzed on the ground, and the Zhenjiang prefect knew that this matter had nothing to do with Wang Bingcao, so he immediately helped Wang Bingcao to sit back on the chair, trying to wake him up.

"It's over...... It's too late. ”

Wang Bingcao's face was full of tears, and the prefect of Zhenjiang also turned pale when he heard this.

Under his gaze, Wang Bingcao had tears in his eyes and snot on his face:

"At their speed, I'm afraid they're already arriving in the capital right now!"

The second watch is estimated to be around 5 p.m

(End of chapter)