Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 147 Yang Puxiong's Experiences in Luzhou (Part )

Upon learning that the envoys from Xu and Song were visiting, Lu Jin immediately called Li Shanchang, Feng Guoyong, and the Bao brothers, and the five of them held a small meeting to discuss how to deal with Xu and Song.

After they finished reading the two reports, Bao Yu took the lead in expressing his opinion, "Marshal, should we adjust our plan and place some spies in Xu and Song's place? There is too little useful information in this report, which is not conducive to our handling of the relationship with Xu and Song."

Lu Jin thought about it and shook his head. "There is no need for this for now. We should not let others affect our pace. We should still follow the previous plan to arrange spies. Huguang is not urgent for now. Even if we place spies, they will be out of reach.

"For now, we still need to attack the north first, then the south, first the east, then the west. We should prioritize Yangzhou Road, and gain a foothold in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces. Once Jiangxi is properly arranged, we can use Jiangxi as a foothold and send scattered spies to Huguang."

"Yes."

Bao Yu immediately understood what Lu Jin meant. The fewer people who knew about intelligence, the better. So Lu Jin only mentioned a few general directions and did not specify the specific plans. This was also to guard against other people. Bao Yu stopped talking about this topic.

Lu Jin then looked at Feng Guoyong and Li Shanchang and asked them, "What do you two think?"

Feng Guoyong spoke first, "Marshal, I think we don't need to pay attention to it. We should just fight according to our established plan.

"The envoys from Xu and Song have two purposes: either to recruit us, using both soft and hard tactics, to make us their subordinates, or to form an alliance so that both sides can fight against the Yuan army together.

"The Xu Song Dynasty was only founded a few months earlier. With Huanggang as the capital, it is difficult for them to achieve great things. Now that the world is in turmoil, it is still unclear who will win. As long as we can capture Jiangdong, the commander-in-chief can build a great cause on his own. Why should we serve a cult? Their founding is not right, and they will suffer backlash sooner or later.

"If he threatens us with force to surrender, that would be even more foolish. Now Xu and Song are small, with few people and poor soldiers. There are mountains between us. If we go by water, we are separated by Jiangxi, which is still the territory of the Yuan court. If we go by land, we can only go through the mountains. A fortress in Lu'an can block it, so the threat of force is completely ineffective.

"Not to mention that Xu Song is just established now, he is surrounded by enemies and can't even take care of his own safety, so how can he spare troops to attack us?

“Besides, if he really ignores the Yuan court and attacks other rebel forces, he will lose his righteousness. The rebel forces in the world will despise and despise him, and his prestige of establishing a country first will be gone.

"As for whether to form an alliance with them, I'll leave it to the Marshal to decide."

Li Shanchang had been listening beside him without saying anything. This guy had ulterior motives and was not honest enough in history.

Especially in the original history, when Zhu Yuanzhang had dealt with Chen Youliang and had time to deal with Zhang Shicheng, Li Shanchang said there was no rush and the time was not yet ripe. He deliberately used the reason that there was too little money and food to refuse to support Zhu Yuanzhang in fighting Zhang Shicheng. In the end, it was with the support of the military system that Zhu Yuanzhang launched a decisive battle against Zhang Shicheng.

Of course, there may also be the influence of Zhang Shicheng's intelligence warfare. After all, Zhang Shicheng was not just poaching Zhong Ba Ge's military generals. Who knows whether he had won over Zhu Yuanzhang's civil servants.

But now, Li Shanchang still has some brains. First of all, he is the chief civil official on Lu Jin's side, while Xu Song already has Zou Pusheng and Ni Wenjun, as well as a cult leader Peng Yingyu. With the core composed of these people, even if Li Shanchang goes there, he can't get a higher position than Lu Jin's.

Moreover, although Lu Jin did not declare himself king or emperor, his strength should not be underestimated. He had tens of thousands of troops under his command, plus the local garrison troops, he could claim to have a force of 100,000. He also had the largest navy in the entire Yangtze River Basin to rely on.

With such a strong military force as capital, in fact, if you really count it, Lu Jin may not be weaker than Xu Song now. He would be stupid to defect to Xu Song at this time.

After Feng Guoyong finished speaking, he and Lu Jin looked at Li Shanchang. When Li Shanchang saw that everyone was looking at him, he expressed his opinion.

"How we deal with Xu and Song depends on how the two armies develop this year. The Marshal may really need to send some spies to Huguang."

Lu Jin raised his eyebrows when he heard this. "What do you mean? Please tell me in detail, sir."

Li Shanchang then said, "Xu Song is newly established. Whether it is the territory or the soldiers and civilians, they are not worthy of the general's submission. We are not weaker than Xu Song now. If we can capture Jiangdong within two years, then Xu Song will be even less worthy.

“Therefore, not submitting is our bottom line. No matter how soft or hard he tries, we must not agree to it. Secretary Feng has just explained the reason.

"As for forming an alliance, I personally think it's better not to form one. From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, to the coalition attacking Qin, to the 18 princes fighting against Dong Zhuo, history has told us countless times that coalitions have always been difficult to achieve."

Lu Jin nodded repeatedly after listening to this. Not to mention the ancient allied forces, even in World War II, Britain and the United States were creating all kinds of obstacles. The morale of the allied forces was different, and when everyone had conflicting interests, it was difficult for them to be united.

But just after he said it was better not to form an alliance, Li Shanchang changed the subject.

"But if he really proposes an alliance, the Marshal doesn't have to rush to refuse."

"Oh? How do you mean?" Lu Jin became interested.

Li Shanchang added, "Now our battle in Jiangyou is drawing to a close. Once we take Haozhou in the north and Anqing in the south, we can temporarily rest and accumulate strength for a year. It is best not to deploy troops on a large scale this year.

"But if Xu Song comes to win us over, we can just pretend to be nice to him and buy time.

“If he asks you to be his vassal, you can refuse on the grounds that your official position is too low, and his envoys will definitely go back to ask for instructions. If he promotes your official position, you can take advantage of the situation and declare yourself king. Anyway, our strength is increasing day by day, so we are not afraid that he will turn against us.

“If he still wants the Marshal to submit to him, then he will have to give him the title of king. If he refuses, he can also propose an alliance. We can agree to the alliance in name, but we will never easily cooperate in sending troops.

"If he still wants us to send troops, we have to ask him to give us some more benefits. In short, as long as he needs our help, we can take the initiative.

"If he turns against us, it will probably take a year to go back and forth. By then, our army will be marching to Jiangyou, so we can cooperate with him. He won't be able to say anything else. This way, we can benefit without making enemies with him. When we have Jiangyou, it won't be their turn to say anything."

Lu Jin's eyes lit up when he heard this. Although the situation Li Shanchang had anticipated was still relatively "rough and immature", it was very much to Lu Jin's liking. To sum up all the things Li Shanchang said, it was nothing more than "delay".

Do not make enemies with them. While maintaining peace, try to delay time and accumulate strength. Once Zhejiang is taken over, Lu Jin will take the initiative and will not be afraid even if a full-scale war with Xu Song begins.

As for Lu Jin's own thoughts, because he knew the direction of history, in the first half of the 12th year of Zhizheng, Xu Song was still in Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi, and these three provinces were fighting with the Yuan army.

Just when the Song army and the Yuan army were in a stalemate, Xu Song sent out a surprise attack on Yuling Pass. The divine troops descended from the sky and suddenly captured Hangzhou. The Yuan court was shocked and quickly mobilized the main force of the official army in the Jianghuai area to provide support, and then beat the Song army all the way back to their lair to fight guerrilla warfare.

As long as Lu Jin keeps dragging it out until Xu Song is defeated and the main force of the Yuan army is attracted to Huguang, when the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are empty of troops, it is time for him to send troops to the south of the Yangtze River. In this way, the delaying tactic is indeed a good way.

However, history has changed so much now. If Lu Jin wants to keep the situation moving along the original historical trajectory, he still needs to do some micro-management, otherwise things might go wrong.

"Then let's do as you say, sir. Let's delay first and see how Xu Song responds. We also need to speed up and accumulate strength!"

"The Marshal is wise." Several people hurriedly bowed in agreement.

So the decision was made, and Lu Jin immediately called Ye Sheng over and asked him to send a battalion of cavalry to pick up the envoys from Xu Song.

Of the 300 soldiers led by Yang Puxiong, he was only allowed to bring 10 of them. The rest had to stay in Lu'an and be guarded by Yu Tingyu. During their time in Luzhou Road, their safety would be protected by the Shengwu Army.

In Lu'an, Yu Tingyu personally led his troops to Gubu Town to pick up the person. When he learned that the person coming was the commander of Lu'an, Yang Puxiong immediately became interested.

Yang Puxiong saw that Yu Tingyu had brought another battalion, and it was an old battalion led by Yu Tingyu himself. Naturally, the armor and equipment were the best. The appearance of two combat battalions in a row made Yang Puxiong greatly amazed. It seemed that Marshal Lu's soldiers were very elite. He wondered how many such soldiers there were in Lu'an.

"I am Yang Puxiong, the director of the Ministry of Rites of the State of Song. I am here on the orders of His Majesty to deliver a letter to Marshal Lu. May I know the name of this general?"

"My surname is Yu, and I am the commander of Lu'an. Since you are an envoy from another country, please follow me to Lu'an and wait. I have reported the news to the commander-in-chief, and there will be news soon."

"So it's Commander Yu who's here. That's good. I'll follow the general to Lu'an right away." Yang Puxiong said as he waved to the captain of his guards, ready to take these soldiers with him. As expected, he was stopped by Yu Tingyu.

"Wait a minute, since you have entered my territory, your safety will naturally be protected by me. These soldiers do not need to go deep into my territory. If you are worried, you can only bring fifty soldiers at most."

"Is this the way your army treats guests?" Yang Puxiong was immediately dissatisfied.

Yu Tingyu smiled and said, "Since you know you are a guest, why would you bring thugs to break into someone else's house? Since you have entered my house, my guards will naturally protect you. Is it the way to be a guest that you are forcing your troops to break in? Or do you look down on our army and think that our army cannot stop the Yuan Dynasty's official army?"

Yang Puxiong choked when he heard this and suddenly felt a headache. He didn't know whether the generals under Lu Jin could fight, but they were all good at talking.

He originally wanted to say that the other party had no hospitality skills, but he didn't expect that Yu Tingyu would outwit him.

While he was still thinking about how to respond, Yu Tingyu softened his tone and spoke again.

"Since you have entered our camp, we will do our utmost to protect you. If something really happens to you in our territory, I'm sure your country will not believe our explanation. You don't need to be so careful."

The tone of this statement was slightly lowered, meaning that the Shengwu Army did not want to offend Xu Song for the time being. After all, the envoy died during his visit, which was definitely the most serious diplomatic incident. In order to avoid conflict, the Shengwu Army would definitely protect Yang Puxiong's safety. Yu Tingyu's words were considered to be a way for him to save face.

Yang Puxiong really took advantage of the situation and said after his expression relaxed.

"Then I'll have to trouble the general to escort you."

"Okay, okay. I will ask my subordinates to treat the soldiers you bring well." Yu Tingyu said with a smile.

Then the two of them called their subordinates to give them some instructions. Yu Tingyu asked Zhang Huan to keep an eye on the soldiers, and Yang Puxiong asked his guards to be honest and not cause any trouble, and wait for them to come back here. If they did not return within two months, they were to find a way to escape from here and go back to report to Xu Shouhui.

After both parties gave instructions to their subordinates, Yang Puxiong followed Yu Tingyu to Lu'an.

Along the way, Yang Puxiong was still trying to find something to say, pointing at the soldiers of the old camp under Yu Tingyu and praising them, "Your soldiers are quite elite, no wonder you were able to capture the entire Luzhou Road. I wonder how many such soldiers you have under Commander Yu."

"Not many, just a few battalions, totaling no more than five or six thousand."

Yu Tingyu casually said a vague number, but Yang Puxiong was secretly shocked. If five or six thousand soldiers were all so elite, and if Yu Tingyu was not lying, then the troops under his command alone would be able to match all the forces of Chen Youliang now. If Yu Tingyu surrendered at this time, his status would definitely not be lower than Chen Youliang.

However, Yang Puxiong naturally would not believe it completely. He recalled it briefly and remembered that his master Peng Yingyu had told him that the Chaohu Navy was led by Zhao Pusheng and Li Pusheng. Apart from the two of them, the two largest factions in the entire Chaohu Navy were the Yu family and the Liao family.

Currently, this Commander Yu is leading five to six thousand soldiers and guarding an important pass. He is definitely one of the most important generals under Lu Jin. He holds such an important position and his surname is Yu. I guess he should be the Yu from the Chaohu Navy, right?
Yang Puxiong suddenly became excited. What Peng Yingyu told him was to try his best to use the relationship with Chaohu Navy to win over Lu Jin. If he failed to win over Lu Jin, then he should try to start with Li Pusheng and Zhao Pusheng. Now one of them was dead and the other was missing. Lu Jin had a bunch of surrendered Yuan Dynasty generals under his command. The only ones left who had a relationship with Chaohu Navy were Liao and Yu.

Yu Tingyu has thousands of soldiers under his command and is able to guard important places on his own. I think his current position is not low. If Lu Jin is unwilling to submit to him, perhaps he can directly win over the Yu and Liao families.

Lu Jin just called himself the marshal and gave Yu Tingyu the title of commander, but Xu Song had already proclaimed himself emperor. If these two families were given the titles of marquis and duke, I'm afraid they would be tempted!

Yang Puxiong immediately tried to test the waters, "To be honest with Commander Yu, before I left, my master specifically told me that when Senior Brothers Zhao Pusheng and Li Pusheng founded the Chaohu Navy and started an uprising in Jianghuai, Liao and Yu contributed a lot and were the most trusted by the two Senior Brothers.

"The Shengwu Army was developed from the Chaohu Navy. Since your surname is Yu, I guess you are the Yu family that Master mentioned, right?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Tingyu glanced at him and immediately understood what this guy was thinking, and said immediately.

"Zhao Pusheng really trusted us. When the Yuan army attacked, he and Li Pusheng ran away quickly, leaving me and the Liao brothers to struggle in Chaohu. He and Li Pusheng stayed in Hanshan and Wuwei respectively, and they chanted scriptures with their soldiers all day long.

"Perhaps the sutras really worked, and God sent General Lu to lead us out of the sea of ​​suffering. Otherwise, I'm afraid our heads would have been hung on the top of the city by Zuo Junbi and dried in the wind.

"I don't know how well you recite the sutra. Do you have the ability of your two senior brothers? If it is really effective, it would be best if you can directly recite the sutra to curse the Yuan army to death. Then the world will be truly peaceful."

Yang Puxiong's face suddenly turned dark when he heard this.

(End of this chapter)