The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 431 Turmoil
The situation in the South kept changing.

Li Yan occupied Nanjing, based on Yangzhou and Zhenjiang, and established a regime in Southern Zhili. He then left Li Jiyou with 150,000 troops to guard Nanjing, while he led the main army southward, invading all the way.

However, the offensive of the Wanmin Army was not as unstoppable as Li Yan had expected.

Chongzhen opened up the right to militia training and allowed prefectures and counties to recruit militia according to the Kaifeng militia system.

In the beginning, this policy did not have much impact on the general situation.

Even with the added combat power of the community militia, the armies led by Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng were still defeated one after another.

But as time went on, this policy finally had its moment of truth.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, although it tried its best to consolidate the power of Jiangnan, it was ultimately unable to resolve the problems in Jiangnan due to historical issues.

Over the past two hundred years, land annexation in Jiangnan and even in the South has been extremely serious, although it has not yet led to the formation of aristocratic families like those in the Tang Dynasty.

However, in these areas, the landlords and gentry held great power and kept many domestic slaves, even during the Japanese invasion in the southeast.

These landlords and gentry recruited young men to guard the fortresses, and Japanese pirates rarely invaded. They would rather rob nearby counties and prefectures than besiege the sturdy fortresses built by these landlords and gentry.

It has been almost half a year since the power to conduct community militia and militia training was liberalized.

The Wanmin Army was so powerful that it captured many large cities in Southern Zhili. Its brutal methods of liquidation made the landlords and gentry in the south feel insecure, so they dared not hide too much and began to stick together and recruit soldiers.

After the connection between the North and the South was severed and signs of the Ming Dynasty's demise became apparent, more power was released.

In order to protect themselves, local officials turned a blind eye to those militias and community soldiers that clearly violated the rules, and even supported them secretly.

So when Li Yan led the Wanmin Army south, the siege of the prefectures and counties had little effect.

The Wanmin Army lacked heavy siege weapons, and most of the time they could only attack the city in an ant-like manner, but the price they paid for such an attack was undoubtedly heavy.

It was not until July of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, more than three months after the capture of Nanjing.

The Wanmin Army finally completely controlled the seven prefectures of Yingtian, Zhenjiang, Suzhou, Changzhou, Guangde, Taiping and Ningguo south of the Yangtze River in Nanzhili.

The attack on Chizhou and Huizhou prefectures in the southwest corner was not smooth.

In Songjiang Prefecture in the southeast, the Wanmin Army was unable to take action due to the presence of Zheng Zhilong.

If the Wanmin Army can advance with unstoppable force and show its strength to swallow up the Southern Kingdom.

Zheng Zhilong would probably lead his troops to join the Wanmin Army without hesitation.

However, the situation was uncertain, especially since Chen Wang was now marching across the Central Plains and dominating the Yangtze and Huaihe River regions, Zheng Zhilong naturally did not dare to make a bet easily.

Zheng Zhilong maintained certain connections with the Wanmin Army, but did not fully commit himself to it.

In order to ensure its sphere of influence in Fujian, it still provided certain assistance to the Ming army in the south.

Li Yan did not want to have too much hostility with Zheng Zhilong, so he ordered his troops to abandon the attack on Songjiang Prefecture.

Such progress is undoubtedly extremely slow for the People's Army.

And it was just control. In these areas, there were still many strongholds built by landlords and gentry that had not been destroyed, although when the Wanmin Army was at its peak, they could only hide.

But once the People's Army shows signs of decline, they will undoubtedly swarm in like sharks smelling blood.

What put the Wanmin Army under the greatest pressure was Chen Wang's movements.

After staying in Xuzhou for a while, Chen Wang led his troops all the way from Henan to northern Huguang. In late June, he had arrived in Hanyang Prefecture and captured the city of Hanyang in one fell swoop.

Hanyang Prefecture is separated from Wuchang Prefecture by the Yangtze River and is the barrier gateway of Wuchang Prefecture, separated only by a river.

With the fall of Hanyang, Wuchang was in danger.

The Western Army deployed 300,000 soldiers in Wuchang and mobilized all the navy to rescue Wuchang. The Battle of Wuchang was about to break out.

July 5, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen.

In Wuchang City, a murderous atmosphere was thickening.

Thousands of sails are swaying on the river.

Three hundred thousand Western Army troops gathered in Wuchang, but this did not give the officers and soldiers in the city any confidence.

Because in Hanyang, just across the river, more than 100,000 officers and soldiers had gathered.

And this is not the most terrifying part.

It's not like they haven't faced such a large number of soldiers before. When they were in Shaanxi and Henan, soldiers had gathered in the tens of thousands several times, but he still managed to escape.

But this time, the person commanding these officers and soldiers was not the imperial military commander or a civil official.

But, Chen Wang...

General Chen Wang, who suppressed the bandits.

Not long ago, Chen Wang, who had defeated the main force of the Wanmin Army led by Li Yan with only 30,000 armored soldiers in the Battle of Fengyang, forced the Wanmin Army to flee south.

In seven years, Chen Wang, who had gone from being a household servant, relied on his sword to suppress bandits in the south and attack the Jiannu in the north, and fought his way up to become a general with a seal.

They even achieved actual separatism in the Central Plains.

Today, the real ruler of the area south of the Yellow River and north of the Yangtze River is no longer the current imperial court.

But it was Chen Wang.

The more I understand, the more desperate I become.

In the space of half a month in Wuchang City, the Western Army had held more than a dozen military meetings.

But after much discussion, no results were achieved.

The only good news right now.

Even though Chen Wang had arrived in Hanyang for nearly half a month, there was still no sign of attack, and even the officers and soldiers' navy did not attack.

This also made the officers and soldiers of the Western Army unaware of the situation and they dared not act rashly.

At this moment, Chen Wang, who was feared by the Western Army, was sitting in the military camp on the eastern outskirts of Hanyang, listening to Hu Zhili's report.

"The reorganization of Shandong Town has been basically completed by the instructors sent by the Central Military Department. Shandong Town is temporarily planned to be organized into a division, which will be commanded by Gao Jie. According to the normal division-level units, four battalions will be organized, with a fixed number of 12,000 soldiers. There are 11,000 soldiers on the original register, and 1,000 new soldiers will be recruited. They have been trained for two months and can be incorporated into the battalions in the second half of next month."

Gao Jie and his men did have a lot of soldiers under their command, but many of them were just unqualified and were naturally laid off and replaced.

Therefore, the reorganized First Division of Shandong Town could not even gather 12,000 people, and new troops needed to be trained.

Sun Chuanting led his troops to suppress the rebellion for the last time, and mobilized almost most of Shandong's manpower.

Almost all the soldiers left behind in Shandong were guards or second- and third-line soldiers. These soldiers were poorly equipped and poorly trained, and were several levels weaker than the militia recruited by the landlords and gentry.

Furthermore, Shandong is not far from northern Zhili, so the imperial court still has a certain degree of control over it.

Moreover, the talent pool under Chen Wang's command is not enough. There are not many officers who can take charge of a matter, not to mention civil servants who can govern a region.

The time has not yet come to take action against Shandong and take control of it.

Furthermore, Shandong was still suffering from the epidemic at this time.

Therefore, Chen Wang was not in a hurry to take control of Shandong. He only contacted Gao Jie and coerced Liu Zeqing to gather the main troops of Shandong Town under his command.

"In the First Division of Shandong Town, apart from Gao Jie, the other three battalions will be led by Hui Dengxiang, Ma Jinzhong, and Ma Dai."

"Ma Dai?" Hui Dengxiang and Ma Jinzhong were old acquaintances. When Chen Wang went north to support the king, he had a close relationship with them.

After the Battle of Qingshan Pass, Hui Dengxiang and Ma Jinzhong became more respectful.

But Chen Wang had no impression of Ma Dai.

After a brief recollection, the only thing I thought of was Ma Chao's younger brother in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, also named Ma Dai.

Shandong Town was only unified not long ago, and most of the affairs are handled by the Central Military Department headed by Hu Zhili.

Chen Wang also handed over the appointment of battalion commanders to Hu Zhili.

However, Chen Wang had no impression of him, but Chen Gong remembered this person.

"In the previous battle at Luliang Mountain, Yang Yufan was defeated and killed. It was Ma Dai who led his troops into the enemy camp and risked his life to retrieve Yang Yufan's body."

Chen Wang's memory has improved a lot since coming to this world, and he almost has the ability to remember everything he sees.

It was just because he had such a deep impression of Ma Dai from the Three Kingdoms period that he had overlooked it a little. However, with Chen Gong's reminder, Chen Wang also remembered who Ma Dai was.

In the late Ming Dynasty, Ma Dai also left a profound mark in history books.

During the Shandong uprising, Yang Yufan led his troops to suppress a powerful peasant army.

Ma Dai charged into the formation alone, penetrated deep into the enemy camp and struck the core, killing their leader in the battle.

His waist and shoulders were stabbed by spears, and blood seeped through his heavy armor.

He is indeed a brave general.

"This person can be put to good use. When the military academy opens in the future, he can be admitted to study there."

Chen Wang has a good impression of Ma Dai.

He saw two key points from the fact that Ma Dai was able to retrieve Yang Yufan's body.

One thing is that Ma Dai is indeed a man of loyalty and righteousness. If such a person is recruited under one's command, he will not easily rebel.

Another thing is that Ma Dai was able to rescue Yang Yufan's body amidst the chaos and when the army was defeated. This was not something that could be achieved simply by bravery.

Ma Dai's estimation of the situation on the battlefield and the timing at that time must have been just right.

From this point of view, Ma Dai is a person worth cultivating.

"Later, I will ask the Central Military Department to add Ma Dai's name to the first batch of advanced training list of the military academy."

Hu Zhili nodded and agreed.

Chen Wang's arrangement was undoubtedly to train Ma Dai as a reserve division commander in the future.

The military academy is an idea recently proposed by Chen Wang and is currently under preparation.

The location of the establishment is temporarily planned to be Xiangyang.

Now, because there is no restriction from the imperial court, the power of Hanzhong Town is developing rapidly, especially the number of soldiers in each town is increasing, and the expansion is also proceeding non-stop.

The Military Affairs Department, which is responsible for conscription and training, is already extremely busy, and has even recruited a large number of staff to ensure efficiency.

"Shandong Town has almost stabilized now. I don't know what arrangements the general town will make for Liu Zeqing."

Hu Zhili paused and looked at the map of Huaiyang hanging in the middle of the military tent.

In that map, the small black flag representing Liu Zeqing's troops was still planted in Huai'an Prefecture, which was out of place with the red markings of the surrounding Hanzhong military system.

Shandong Town could have trained two divisions, after all, Liu Zeqing still had more than 10,000 soldiers.

But Liu Zeqing is ultimately someone who cannot be put on the table.

The reason why he was able to become the general of a town was because of his ability to flatter others.

The previous victories against the rebel army were all due to Yang Yufan’s main attack.

Liu Zeqing merely picked up some ready-made military merits and fought some successful battles.

Not to mention that this person has a despicable character. In history, Liu Zeqing was obsessed with money and was fickle.

Before the Qing army arrived, he was still living a life of drunkenness and debauchery.

Chen Wang had no intention of recruiting Liu Zeqing, as most of the soldiers under him were veterans.

Recruiting them into the army would only damage the morale and reputation of the army, which would be a loss.

How to deal with this group of veteran soldiers and Liu Zeqing is indeed a difficult problem.

"Is Zuo Guangxian's Fourth Division now in Chuzhou Prefecture?"

Chen Wang pondered for a moment, made up his mind, and confirmed with Hu Zhili.

"On June 27, Zuo Guangxian arrived in Chuzhou Prefecture in compliance with the transfer order from the Military Command Department."

Hu Zhili recalled briefly and quickly gave the answer.

"As for Liu Zeqing, transfer him to the vicinity of Liuhe first."

The biggest problem now is that there are not enough troops. Liu Zeqing is still somewhat useful now, so it is not a good time to clean him up.

The four divisions of Hanzhong Town are all reinforced divisions, with 5,000 men in each battalion, totaling twelve regular infantry battalions and one 3,000-man Guards Cavalry battalion, totaling 73,000 men.

The three divisions of Henan Town are all ordinary divisions, with thirteen regular battalions, each with 3,000 men, totaling 39,000 men.

The 1st Division of Shandong Town, like that of Henan Town, is an ordinary division with 12,000 men.

The 1st Huguang Division has six regular battalions and 18,000 men.

The Yunyang and Kaifeng militia totaled 12,000 people.

The total number of troops that Chen Wang can now control has reached 150,000.

However, this force is still insufficient for the vast territory he now controls.

Chen Wang led his troops from Yinghuo to Huguang, in the Nanzhili area north of the Yangtze River.

The troops left in Nanzhili are the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of Henan Town under Chen Yongfu and Gao Qian, and the 1st Division of Shandong Town led by Gao Jie.

Gao Jie now leads his troops to garrison in Gaoyou, north of Yangzhou.

After Zhang Xianzhong died in Nanjing, Li Dingguo led his troops back to Jiangbei and retreated to Anqing Prefecture. He then withdrew his forces and gave up many cities in the north.

Chen Wang then ordered Chen Yongfu to send troops to successively recapture Lu'an and Hefei, regain control of the entire Luzhou Prefecture, and completely control the Yinghuo Mountain area, so that all the territories were connected again.

Together with Zuo Guangxian, there were only four divisions with 48,000 combat soldiers, plus 8,000 Kaifeng militiamen, a total of 64,000 people.

Gao Qian stationed troops in Fengyang and also needed to leave troops to guard Xuzhou, so the number of troops on the front line was only more than 60,000.

The defense is adequate, but the offense is still a little lacking.

Chen Wang planned to wait until the matter in Wuchang was resolved, and then return to Southern Zhili to completely remove the nail of Yangzhou, which was placed by the Wanmin Army in Jiangbei.

At that time, Liu Zeqing and his soldiers will be sent to serve as cannon fodder to fill the line.

The real gold that was produced from the fierce fire of the battle in Yangzhou can be accepted.

However, it would be better for those soldiers who are afraid of death, have poor military discipline, and Liu Zeqing to sleep forever under the city of Yangzhou.