Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 425 I'm going to Dongshan
"Uh..."

"Run!"

"put!"

"Boom bang bang-"

Noisy voices continue to sound in coastal city-states such as Visakhapatnam, Buri, Calcutta, Karachi, and Surat.

The sound of roaring artillery, ear-piercing screams, and the fighting between the Ming army and the Mughal army...

These various voices are repeated in the coastal cities of the Mughals. Compared with the heavily guarded Godavari River defense line, the cities and city-states on the thousands of miles of coastal defense line can be said to have nowhere to defend.

Dozens of cities, the number of defenders among them is no more than three thousand, and the number of widows is no more than a few hundred...

Facing the attack of 5000 people from the Ming Navy, various city-states and cities were captured, and a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry and goods were seized.

For a time, the flames of war ignited thousands of miles of coastline, and the news of these places also spread to Lahore and the Godavari River defense line through the major city-states far from the sea.

Mirza in the middle of Godard's line of defense was the first to receive the news of the attack in the rear. When he got the news, he felt that the defeat was already a matter of time.

Before he could deploy further, news of the attacks and occupation of coastal cities in various places came like snowflakes.

The loss of one city after another made Mirza's complexion more and more ugly. He never thought that his own defense area was fine, but the defense areas of other governors fell one by one.

"Kelinga defended, but tens of thousands of people were killed and injured. They have already returned to the city. Only 9000 people are relatively intact, and the remaining 2000 people are slightly injured."

"Huh..." After hearing the report from his subordinates, Mirza finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that God had always given him some face.

"Governor, we now..."

In the wooden house of the earthworks, more than a dozen Persian and Mongolian generals hesitated, and Mirza also saw their thoughts.

To put it bluntly, the Ming army has completely occupied the Mughal coastline for thousands of miles.

In this situation, if some small and medium-sized warships of the Ming army transported troops along the Narmada River in the west and the Mahanadi River in the east, and set up a defense line on the north bank, then they would have less than Five hundred miles of land retreated in depth.

A difficult question was placed before Mirza... To retreat or not to retreat?

retreat?He didn't get Shah Jahan's order, and if he retreated rashly, he might face the responsibility of fleeing the battle.

Although the Mughals obtained a lot of gold, silver and jewels from the land of more than 20 square kilometers in the seven months since they occupied the Godavari River defense line, as well as millions of refugees who fled north, the lost For such a piece of land, Mirza may face very severe punishment.

However, if they do not retreat, the more than [-] Mughal troops remaining on the defense line are likely to be dumped by the Ming army.

If the more than [-] troops are destroyed, let alone the land under their feet, they may even lose the territory north of the Wendiya Mountains, south of the Ganges, and east of the Indian Desert.

It has to be said that Mirza was caught in a dilemma.

At this time, Huanglong's great autonomy is enviable.

Regardless of whether he chose to counterattack or stand in a stalemate, Zhu Youjian would not blame him unless the Ming army suffered heavy casualties.

As long as Zhu Youjian didn't blame him, the imperial court would not dare to criticize him, or Huang Long didn't care about the court's critics.

Compared with him, there is Shah Jahan on Mirza, and Lahore, where Shah Jahan is located, is four thousand miles away from the Godavari River.

Waiting for Shah Jahan's order, even if the corpses of the whole army are cold, they will not be able to wait...

"retreat……"

"Yes!"

After struggling for a long time, Mirza decided to retreat, and his words won the approval and support of many officers.

They were suppressed and beaten with artillery by the Ming army for four months, and they were quite depressed.

The current result is already their best effort. As a result, the Governor of Bangladesh and other Governors' defense areas fell, causing them to be attacked from all sides.

If you don't take advantage of the fact that the Ming army has not completed the encirclement and retreat, then wait for the entire army to be wiped out.

In this battle, no one blamed Mirza. After all, although the Ming army was slightly smaller than them, their combat power was stronger and their equipment was better than theirs.

Being able to stand in a stalemate for seven months and profit so much from the land under his feet has exceeded many people's expectations.

The Ming army increased its troops three times, but they only had one.

After the second increase of troops by the Ming army, they believed that the defense line of the Godavari River could no longer be defended. If it hadn't been for Mirza's dispatch, they might have been driven back to the north of the Wendiya Mountains.

"Order the ministries to retreat to the north, and the army retreats to Gorba City."

Mirza immediately issued an order for a second retreat, and told the location of the retreat assembly.

Everyone who responded to the military order exited the wooden house, while Mirza got up and walked to his own desk, looked at the map on the desk, and sighed helplessly.

That was the map he planned before the war. In the original plan, he planned to take down the Ming army in the north at that time, and then cross the Godavari River to occupy the southern region. .

It's just that he didn't expect that the overall quality of the Ming army was so strong.

They were obviously infantry, but when they learned of the southern rebellion, they immediately retreated at a speed of 150 miles.

What kind of quality is this?
We must know that during the British Civil War more than ten years later, the rapid march speed of the British army was 47 kilometers a day.

In the heyday of the Flanders Legion, the most powerful army in Northwest Europe, the rapid march was only 62 kilometers a day.

In the Three Kingdoms period, Xia Houyuan, who was the representative of the commander-in-chief of the Three Kingdoms at that time, only marched 83 kilometers in a hurry.

But when it came to the Ming army, the Ming army abruptly ran [-] kilometers.

We must know that even in the Gulf period, the Seventh Army of the United States broke into the hinterland of Iraq by surprise from the weak defense of the Iraqi army's flanks, and it only traveled 86 kilometers in 260 hours, which is about [-] kilometers per day on average.

Even Yilak, who had modern means of communication, collapsed under such a rapid blow, which shows how terrifying this speed was on the ancient battlefield.

Even with the ancient and modern raiding capabilities of the Mongolian Tuqi, the average marching speed reached 95 to [-] kilometers.

Its surprise attack on Northern Romanov took only two months. In the era of cold weapons, it can be counted as an ultra-long-distance and ultra-high-speed military strike.

Usually, the opponent has just received a report of the appearance of Mongolian cavalry on the border, and has not yet held a combat meeting. When he looks up, the opponent has already begun to besiege the city.

Of course, this kind of high-speed mobile warfare is very powerful, but it is not without weaknesses. Otherwise, wouldn't there be no need for other types of generals?

On the battlefield at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were a large number of Mongolian cavalry in the northern Ming army, so many generals from the north liked to use this kind of long-distance mobile warfare with a small number of cavalry constantly changing horses on the way.

For example, Li Rusong, the general of Liaodong, in the battle of Wanli and Li Dynasty, led [-] cavalry from Pyongyang to quickly raid the capital of Li Dynasty after receiving wrong information.

As a result, they met a ten times larger number of Japanese troops in the Biju Pavilion, and finally retreated after a bloody battle. Li Rusong hadn't learned his lesson yet.

A few years later, he led a small number of cavalry to attack the Mongols at high speed. As a result, he died after encountering an ambush by the superior enemy, clearing away the last obstacle for Nurhachi's rise.

Therefore, the rapid march of the Ming army cannot be launched under normal circumstances, unless it is critical and concerns the survival of soldiers and horses.

But even so, most of the troops could not run a distance of 150 miles a day, because they did not have such a sufficient mule and horse convoy as the Ming army.

However, under normal circumstances, the elite of the Central Plains Dynasty can do a short-term raid of 120 to [-] miles.

Mirza was so shocked by the speed of the retreat of the Ming army, mainly due to his cognitive bias caused by pecking with Bukhara, Safi Persia, Bengal and several major southern sultanates all year round.

On the continent they were in, infantrymen who could run eighty miles a day in rapid march were considered elite among the elite, and the normal marching speed was only forty miles.

Needless to say, compared with the current Ming army, even the Juniper Division in the Battle of Sarhu can easily march [-] miles a day.

As for the old slaves in the Battle of Sarhu, they ran for six hundred miles in five days. Although they were horse infantry, their strength was far higher than that of other armies of the same period, and they could fight in history.

Even the current Ming army's Northern Army, Eastern Army, and Shangzhi in the north, before regaining Hetao and Taining's three guards, had only 120 miles of daily marches, and only [-] miles of forced marches.

Huanglong's advantage is that he obtained a large number of horses and mules by attacking the southern countries. Therefore, the Ming army that stayed in the north at the beginning was basically all horse infantry, and there were still three horses per man.

At that time, if Mirza hadn't been taken aback by the speed of the Ming army's retreat and hesitated for a day, allowing the Ming army to retreat to the south bank of the Godavari River to build fortifications, the Ming army would not have repelled their counterattack so easily.

Generally speaking, in this battle, Mirza mainly suffered from being unfamiliar with his opponents. He had never seen the Ming army's style of play, and their style of play was very good for Jurchens, Mongols, Cochins, and Indians. For the Ming army who fought against others, it is easy to find out.

Now Mirza has figured out the Ming army's style of play, but time and the battle situation have not allowed him to fight against Huanglong.

"I hope to have another chance in the future..."

Mirza took a long breath, and then ordered people to pack up his luggage.

That night, with Mirza at the center, all the troops stationed along the river began to take advantage of the darkness to retreat, and Huang Long knew it clearly, but he didn't stop him.

Early the next morning, Huang Long and Qi Yuanfu commanded the Ming army to cross the Godavari River, and sat in Mirza's chair at the third quarter of the hour.

"These southern captives have a good learning ability, but it's a pity that they don't have the corresponding tactics to cooperate with the trenches. Even if they have trenches, they can't play the effect."

Sitting in the seat, Huang Long leaned on the chair and shook his head and sighed, while Qi Yuanfu twisted his uncomfortable wrist, and said with a sigh of relief:
"The tactics are not good, and the trench digging is not good, but according to the current situation, the 10,000+ Mughal army on the Godavari River defense line will start to retreat towards Gorba. Are we really going to stop it?"

"Why are you stopping me?" Huang Long put one hand on the armrest of the chair, holding a small knife left by Mirza in his hand, fiddling with it, with a nonchalant expression on his face:
"Kill all these 10,000+ people?"

"Not to mention the total annihilation of them, the casualties we need to pay, just say that the land of Xiaoxiyang was originally reserved for the feudal vassals."

"Beat Nanlu in one go, and the feudal clans will have no one to restrain them. Then they will fight among themselves, and finally a feudal state will be created to challenge my Ming Dynasty."

"This little Western land, you've been here for so long, you know as much as I do."

"When we regain the territory south of the Wendiya Mountains, the number of local natives may reach 3000 to [-] million."

"There are so many natives, and with the hundreds of millions of acres of arable land, I am afraid that raising 20 soldiers will not be a problem."

"Keeping Mughal is to let him consume the feudal vassals. When I, Daming, conquer Luchuan, I will send troops to clean him up."

"That being said..." Qi Yuanfu sighed and said:
"Such a large territory cannot be directly used by the country, and it needs to rely on the various vassals. This is too...wasteful."

"Waste it, waste it, the Shibo Department will transport away the grain and gold and silver needed by the country." Huang Long stood up, and then said to Qi Yuanfu:
"Order all the ministries to go north. It seems that we can regain this vast territory before September and go home early for the New Year."

"Is the message for His Highness coming soon?" Qi Yuanfu asked worriedly, but Huang Long waved his hand: "It should be coming soon."

"When the soldiers and horses who called for help last time arrive in Xiaoxiyang, our 10,000+ people can retreat home to rest."

Speaking of this, Huang Long paused, turned his head to look at Qi Yuanfu and said, "I may have to return to the capital to report on my work at that time."

"His Highness's reply letter should be sent back in one and a half months. I can't guarantee whether His Highness will appoint you as Xiao Xiyang's temporary commander."

"Hehe..." Qi Yuanfu smiled, then shook his head: "At my age, it's useless to covet that false name."

"..." Huang Long frowned slightly, as if he felt that there was something in Qi Yuanfu's words.

There are four fathers and sons in the Qi family, and Qi Jin is the oldest. When he entered Liao Dynasty, he was already sixty-four, and now he is seventy-four.

Among the three sons, Qi Yuangong, the oldest, is 55 years old, while Qi Yuanfu is 48 years old, and Qi Yuanbi is 40 years old.

Looking at Huanglong again, he is only 38 years old now, which is younger than the three of them.

In fact, the other governors of the entire five-army governor's mansion are not too young.

Needless to say, the Qi family of the Southern Army’s Governor’s Mansion, Qin Bangping of the Western Army’s Governor’s Mansion is 73 years old, Qin Banghan is 65 years old, Qin Minping is 54 years old, and Qin Liangyu is 56 years old.

Man Gui of the Northern Army is over 50, and Sun Yingyuan of the Eastern Army is the only one younger than Huanglong among the five governors. He is only 36 years old this year.

From this point of view, there are indeed too many veterans in the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion, but what Qi Yuanfu said obviously did not refer to age.

Huang Long couldn't figure out what he wanted to say. He wanted to talk to someone, but usually there were only two people who could answer him, one was Shen Tingyang and the other was Li Dan.

Now that Shen Tingyang is far away in the old port, Li Dan is leading troops along the coast, and there is no one around Huanglong, so it is a bit embarrassing.

He hadn't thought about being self-reliant, so he didn't have any advisers or aides around him, but at this moment he felt that even if he didn't rebel, he still had to have a few aides around him to help make suggestions.

"The last general retreats first."

After Qi Yuanfu finished speaking, he bowed and left, leaving only Huang Long in the room, frowning tightly, but he didn't understand what Qi Yuanfu meant.

But while he was thinking, Zhu Youjian also got the handwritten letter sent by Huang Long early in Yanshan Dading Palace tens of thousands of miles away.

The content of the handwritten letter was the same as Huanglong's promise to the army, and it was nothing more than the request to go home for the New Year.

Of course, going home for the New Year does not mean that everyone goes home for the New Year.

In the letter, Huang Long mainly pointed out the 32 battalions of soldiers and horses, the four infantry guards of the navy, and the two guards of Longjiang and Hengjiang who participated in the Battle of the Five Kingdoms of Tanjore at that time.

This is the first Ming army to participate in the South Asian war. There were more than 13 soldiers when they went out. When Huang Long wrote this handwriting, their number had dropped to more than 590.

250 five people...

This is just a string of numbers written in handwriting, but it represents 250 sets of ashes.

Perhaps when Zhu Youjian was reading this manuscript, the number of ashes of more than 2 copies was increasing all the time, and people were ruined and killed every second, wearing mourning...

"Write an order to recall the first batch of soldiers from the 32nd Battalion who arrived in Sidang, India. From the day after they landed in Daming Port, arrange horse carriages for them and take paid leave for one year."

"In addition, the navy's four-step guards, Longjiang and Hengjiang are also recalled for vacation, and the treatment is the same as that of the 32nd Battalion."

Zhu Youjian closed his eyes and gave the order, and the scribes in the Changchun Palace also picked up their pens to write down the order according to his words.

There have been paid vacations in ancient times, but what Zhu Youjian said is a bit straightforward, but the scribes can understand it.

According to his words, the scribe quickly wrote the decree, and holding the decree with both hands, opened it for Zhu Youjian to circle the red.

Zhu Youjian glanced at it, and after confirming that there was nothing wrong with it, he decisively made this decree popular.

It was only when he became famous that a scribe who was in charge of arranging the memorials was taken aback after picking up a memorial and opening it, then raised his head and said:
"Your Highness, the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army has sent a memorial, and Qin Bangping, the governor of the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Army...requests to be appointed."

"What did you say?" Zhu Youjian suddenly turned to look at the scribe, and the scribe also lowered his head and read:
"Qin Bangping, the governor of the Western Army's Governor's Mansion, asked for his official post, Qin Banghan, the Western Army's Governor's Mansion, asked for his official post, and Qi Jin, the Governor of the Southern Army's Governor's Mansion, asked for his official post..."

For a while, the three veterans who accompanied Zhu Youjian from weak to strong asked to resign, which made Zhu Youjian feel unreal.

After only a moment, he remembered the ages of these three people, so after a moment, he sighed and said: "Allow."

"In Shangshu, please seal Qi Jin as Marquis of Dingyuan, Qin Bangping as Marquis of Zhongzhou, and Qin Banghan as Marquis of Youyang."

"Yes..." The scribe responded, shocked in his heart.

Since the Wanli period, Daming has seldom conferred titles during his lifetime, and as soon as King Qi opened his mouth, he invited three county marquises, which is considered a big deal.

Although Xiong Tingbi, Yang Hao, and Yan Siqi were also conferred titles before, they were only conferred earls, which are much lighter than marquises.

In the eyes of outsiders, Yan Siqi is probably the one who has contributed the most among the six knights, because he helped Daming lay down Yingzhou.

The Earl was awarded only after destroying a country, but the other five did not destroy a country alone, or destroy a party alone. This may have something to do with their supporting His Royal Highness King Qi back then...

The scribe was thinking secretly, but Zhu Youjian was silent.

The retreat of the three veterans made Zhu Youjian feel a little uncomfortable, but what bothered him more was the position of the three veterans after they retired.

As soon as the three of them retreated, more seats became available.

Originally, when Li Rubai died of illness and Li Rumei became an official, the position of Hexi Commander-in-Chief was vacated.

Now that Qin Bangping is retiring, the position of Guizhou General Soldier will be vacated again.

In addition to the undecided position of the commander-in-chief of the old port, Daming currently lacks four commander-in-chiefs and two governors.

Fortunately, Hong Chengchou is in charge of the southwest, so he doesn't have to worry too much. Instead, he can support Qi Yuangong and Qin Minping to the top, and then support them after the two new generation generals emerge.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said to the scribe:

"Promote Qi Yuangong as the governor of the Western Army, and Qin Minping as the governor of the Southern Army. In addition, Qi Yuangong is temporarily acting as the commander-in-chief of Guangdong, Qin Minping is temporarily acting as the commander-in-chief of Uszang, and Qin Yiming, the former commander-in-chief of Wusizang, is transferred to be the commander-in-chief of Guizhou."

"Reassign Cao Meng, the commander-in-chief of Daning, to be the commander-in-chief of Hexi, Sun Yingyuan is in charge of Daning, Zheng Zhilong is transferred to Jiugang as the commander-in-chief of Jiugang, and Liu Xiang is transferred to Nanzhou to temporarily act as the commander-in-chief of Nanzhou."

Zhu Youjian made a series of adjustments to military generals, which generally made up for the previous gaps, but even so, the three generals of Uszang, Guangdong, and Daning are still temporarily missing.

However, he already had candidates in his mind for the positions of the three chief soldiers.

Because according to Huanglong's letter, the Xiaoxiyang Expeditionary Force should soon be able to recapture the 20-square-kilometer territory south of the Wendiya Mountains.

As long as this place is conquered, when the second voyage to the west arrives, the accompanying twenty battalions, together with the remaining twenty battalions and the six-guard navy, should be enough to resist the Mughals.

The twenty battalions of soldiers and horses of the various feudal clans have almost trained, and now the territory is about to be taken down, and the feudal clans can be driven to India.

In addition, a lot of talents have emerged in this battle, whether they are historical or not, there are a lot of them.

Needless to say, the four brothers Zhu Yujian in the clan, as well as Zhu Changqing and others, these people are of little use to Zhu Youjian for the time being.

On the contrary, the twelve civilian generals who showed their prominence, including Li Zicheng, Li Zijing, Li Guo, and Liu Zongmin, were worthy of his mobilization.

Among the 12 people, Li Zijing is mediocre and suitable to be placed next to Li Zicheng, Li Guo is brave, and Liu Zongmin and the remaining eight people are not bad.

These 12 people each have their own uses. Anyway, in the next five years, Ming Dynasty should have no shortage of generals.

"What is the size of the second voyage to the West? Where did it arrive?"

Zhu Youjian asked the scribe, and the scribe also looked down for the memorial, and then opened it:
"The second voyage to the West consists of twelve large ships of [-] materials and [-] ships of [-] materials. The escort fleet is a first-class fleet, which will be merged into the navy after the war."

"The entire fleet has 600 officers and soldiers, 400 crew members, [-] stones of rice and wheat, and two acres of vegetables and fruits on the deck."

"In addition to this, there are more than [-] celebrities who were displaced by the ship."

"The fleet departed from Tianjin on the first day of July, led by Xu Xiake, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, and is currently traveling to Songjiang Prefecture in Southern Zhili. It is expected to arrive at the Supervisory Commissioner of Kunlun in Linan in September next year."

The scribe's report was over, but Zhu Youjian remained silent, and only after a few seconds did he speak:

"Send the previous memorial to Wansui, and let Wansui decide for himself about the separation of the three of Qi and Jin."

"Yes..." Hearing this, the scribe took the few memorials he wrote just now, and carefully left Changchun Palace and rushed to Zhongxia Palace.

After he left, Zhu Youjian walked back to his seat and sighed while sitting down.

He leaned on the chair like this, closed his eyes for a long time, until a quarter of an hour later, a voice came from the hall:
"Three more people left alone..."

(End of this chapter)