Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 327 Sweeping Huaidong (Part )

After hearing Liao Yongzhong's words, everyone immediately looked at the map and thought, and Zhao Zhongzhong also spoke at this time.

"How should the troops at the front be deployed? The most important thing is to see where we are going to attack. For example, if we take Huai'an as our target, will we have enough time to attack Huai'an before Tuotuo arrives? Anyway, there is a map here, so we can calculate it."

Zhao Zhongzhong immediately stood up and walked to the map, measuring the distance with his hands.

"It is 90 li from Yangzhou to Gaoyou, 120 li from Gaoyou to Baoying, and 80 li from Baoying to Huai'an.

"Today is October 17th. We will rest for a day on the 18th, and advance towards Gaoyou on the 45th. We will march 19 miles a day, arrive at Gaoyou on the evening of the 20th, and launch an attack on Gaoyou on the th. After taking Gaoyou, we will not stop there, and the main force will continue to advance northward.

"We can send a small army to attack Xinghua and Yancheng in the east, or just persuade them to surrender.

"The main force will march from Gaoyou to Baoying on the 21st, a distance of 120 miles, marching 40 miles a day, arriving at Baoying on the 23rd, and launching an attack on the 24th; the main force will continue to march towards Huai'an on the 25th, marching 40 miles a day, arriving at Huai'an on the 27th, and launching an attack on the 28th. Huai'an will be captured within a day or two, and the time will be the end of the month, either the 29th or the 30th.

"That is to say, if we want to reach Huai'an, it will take at least the end of this month. So when will Tuotuo come? If he comes too early, we won't be able to take Huai'an in time. So we might as well just leave Huai'an alone and focus on Gaoyou. Baoying ahead can be abandoned or defended, and we don't plan to hold on to it."

Everyone nodded in agreement when they heard this analysis. Indeed, the distance on the map was there, and no matter how fast they fought, they could not fly over there. This way, they could directly calculate the specific date of the end of the battle.

Zhu Liangzu thought for a while and said, "Tuotuo collected food in September and started to head south in October. Now it's the 16th, maybe he has already started to head south. But it will take at least half a month to get from Dadu to Jianghuai. He will definitely come at the end of this month at the earliest, or the beginning of next month at the latest. Anyway, it will only take a few days."

Upon hearing this, Chief Instructor Gao Yao immediately retorted, "Even if Tuotuo comes at the end of this month, he will definitely attack Xuzhou first. The Tatar emperor has issued an imperial edict, specifically giving Xuzhou an ultimatum. Tuotuo will not leave Xuzhou alone to attack us.

"Besides, Xuzhou is 400 to 500 miles away from Huai'an. Even if Tuotuo wanted to turn around, it would take about ten days to march 50 miles a day. With that much time, we would have already captured Huai'an."

Everyone nodded again when they heard this. Just now they only analyzed it from a military perspective, but Gao Yao mentioned the imperial edict of Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty. Indeed, from a political perspective, you have issued the ultimatum of the imperial edict, there is no way you can give up Xuzhou to attack Huai'an, otherwise you would be slapping yourself in the face.

Seeing that everyone agreed with his judgment, Gao Yao stood up again and walked to the map, pointing to Qinghe County west of Huai'an and said.

"I suggest that after we take Huai'an, we move westwards and take Qinghe County. To the north of Qinghe is the Yellow River, and to the south is Hongze Lake, with less than 20 miles of land in between. After we take Qinghe County, we can use the narrow terrain here to fight Tuotuo in the field, if he dares to come.
"In this way, we can rely on the natural barrier of the Yellow River in the north and Hongze Lake in the west. As long as we hold the dozen miles of land in the middle and strive to win a great victory in the field battle, whether it is Tuotuo's main force or the detachment, they will inevitably retreat, and the newly conquered land in the east of the Huai River will be saved.

"Besides, this place is close to the canal, so it's convenient for us to transport food supplies from Jiangnan. Even if we compete with Tuotuo in consumption, we can afford it."

After Gao Yao finished speaking, everyone nodded in agreement. Zhu Liangzu also made the decision, "Since we have enough time, there is no reason not to fight. Let's follow the strategy of occupying the area south of the Yellow River and talk about how to expand the army."

Hearing the word "expand the army", Feng Sheng, who had been silent until now, immediately made a suggestion.

"Anyway, no matter how we expand the army, there are so many prisoners. I suggest that each of the main regiments of our two divisions should expand a supplementary regiment. We don't need this supplementary regiment to launch the main attack. As long as it can strengthen the momentum and do some supporting work, when the main force suffers casualties, we can draw people from the supplementary regiment to make up for it.

“I think the Marshal probably had this in mind when he named this supplementary regiment.

"Take one battalion from each main regiment to form a supplementary regiment. This way, the main regiment will have at least three battalions of elite soldiers available. The combat effectiveness can also be guaranteed, or at least it won't drop too much."

Liao Yongzhong also nodded and said, "This method is feasible. I think it is feasible. In our 36th Army, except for Zheng Yong's cavalry regiment, the other five regiments will each expand a supplementary regiment, and there will be ten regiments. Add Liu Minhua and Tu Hai's two independent regiments, and we can gather 13 to 14 regiments. It will be enough to attack the remaining five or six cities. If it is not enough, we can continue to expand the army when we reach the north. Anyway, we can still capture prisoners."

Feng Sheng also said again, "I have seen that Zhao Que's troops are pretty good these days. They still have more than 3,000 people. The main regiment can take a battalion to form a new regiment. I think we can add these people to the main regiment and let them serve as acting thousand-householders."

"Okay, I agree." As the chief instructor, Gao Yao immediately agreed.

Zhu Liangzu thought about it and nodded, "Let's do it this way. We will start the reorganization today, rest for a day tomorrow, and do some training so as not to affect the subsequent advance.

"As for command, the newly expanded supplementary regiment will be temporarily led by the original commander of the main regiment, and no additional subordinates will be assigned to it to save trouble."

"Yes!" Everyone responded in unison.

In the afternoon of that day, the main force of the 36th Army expanded and reorganized outside the city of Yangzhou. Even the troops that had been left behind to defend the city were given temporary numbers this time.

The troops left behind by Zhu Liangzu to garrison Tianchang were reorganized into the 18st Supplementary Regiment, and its commander was Sui Zheng, a battalion officer from the th Regiment; the troops left behind by Liao Yongzhong to garrison Liuhe, Zhenzhou and Yangzi counties were reorganized into the nd Supplementary Regiment, and its commander was Zhou Wen, a battalion officer from the th Regiment.

Not to mention the troops stationed in the rear, just talking about Yangzhou, Zhu Liangzu used Yao Qichen, the battalion officer of the Fifth Regiment, as the basis, and absorbed captured surrendered soldiers to form the Third Supplementary Regiment. At the same time, Zhao Que, a former subordinate of Yu Shiliang, was reorganized into a battalion and added to the Fifth Regiment.

Feng Sheng's 14th Regiment, based on the battalion officers' expenses, absorbed prisoners to form the fourth supplementary regiment. At the same time, Han Chang from Yu Shiliang's army was added to the 14th Regiment.

Liao Yongzhong's 106th Division used Zheng Chao's battalion of Zhao Zhongzhong's th Regiment as a basis, absorbed prisoners to form a supplementary th Regiment, with Zheng Chao as the temporary commander. At the same time, Zhong Ming of Yu Shiliang's unit was added to the th Regiment.

Liao Yongzhong's 18th Regiment was formed based on Chen Shida's battalion to supplement the 18th Regiment, with Chen Shida as the temporary commander. At the same time, Tu Hai's third brother Tu Huai was added to the th Regiment. From now on, Tu Hai's "Tu Family Army" was split up to prevent these brothers from causing trouble again.

Tu Hai's troops had just made a fool of themselves in the city. In addition, on the first day of surrender, Gao Yao told him that they would definitely be separated in the future and asked him to be mentally prepared. Moreover, after the battle of Yangzhou, Tu Hai also sincerely wanted to join. Therefore, he did not show any resistance to this reorganization, but actively cooperated.

Hu Hai's 36th Regiment was based on Hao Miao's combat battalion, absorbed prisoners, and formed a supplementary 36th Regiment. At the same time, he withdrew a battalion of Gu Fanglue from Liu Minhua's command and added it to the th Regiment.

As a result, not counting the two supplementary regiments left behind, five new supplementary regiments were expanded in Yangzhou alone, with a total of 5 people used. In the end, there were still more than 22500 prisoners left.

Zhu Liangzu discussed with Gao Yao and decided to draw another auxiliary battalion from his own Fifth Regiment to form a supplementary Eighth Regiment based on this auxiliary battalion, with the auxiliary battalion commander, Gu Shi from Haozhou, as the temporary commander.

In this way, the more than 27000 prisoners were just used up. Not counting the troops left behind in the rear, a total of six supplementary regiments were expanded in Yangzhou.

Therefore, the current composition of the 36th Army has become a cavalry regiment, five main infantry regiments, eight newly formed supplementary regiments, and two newly formed independent regiments of Liu Minhua and Tu Hai, a total of 16 regiments with a total strength of 72000 people, which has even exceeded the army group of Yang Jing.

Oh, and there is also an artillery regiment on loan that is not included.
After the troops were reorganized, they had to be given weapons and equipment. Weapons were easy to get, since they were captured Yuan army prisoners, so there must be captured Yuan army weapons to use. At least it was not difficult to give everyone a sword or a gun, but armor was relatively scarce.

During the battle, only more than 6,000 sets of armor were captured, half of which were iron armor and half were leather armor. As compensation for taking one battalion from Liu Minhua and Tu Hai respectively, Gao Yao and Zhu Liangzu decided to divide the 6,000 sets of armor captured equally among their two independent regiments.

As for the remaining few supplementary regiments, they only have swords and guns, but no armor to use. Moreover, the swords and guns are of various kinds and cannot be unified in shape, so they can only make do for the time being.

That night, the troops were reorganized and the soldiers, who had been fighting for six consecutive days, fell asleep immediately due to exhaustion. Gao Yao also arranged for the training officers of each unit to go around buying meat and vegetables in order to prepare a good meal for the soldiers the next day.

At the same time, Gao Yao himself began to write a report to be submitted to the Marshal's Mansion. First, he would report the victory, then report their next battle plan. In addition, today's military expansion arrangements must also be reported to the Marshal's Mansion in a timely manner. Finally, he would ask Lu Jin for food, hoping to transport food supplies from Jiangnan.

After sending the written report to the riverside by express horse, Gao Yao fell into a deep sleep.

However, the main force of the 36th Army was sleeping soundly outside Yangzhou City, but the others could not sleep.
As it was getting dark on the 16th, Zheng Yong personally led two cavalry battalions to the outside of Gaoyou City. Together with the battalion of Zhang Huzi that arrived two days earlier, the number of Shengwu Army cavalry outside Gaoyou City had reached three battalions. Zheng Yong immediately ordered to cut off all external contacts of Gaoyou City and intercept all messengers entering and leaving the city.

At the same time, several large flags captured from Yangzhou were planted at the gates outside Gaoyou City. Under the flagpoles were white cloth banners with black pen writing on them that Yangzhou City had been broken, that the 100,000-strong Shengwu Army was about to march north, and that the Gaoyou defenders should surrender as soon as possible. The Yuan army in the city was so frightened that they panicked.

Li Qi, the prefect of Gaoyou, and Dashi Tiemur, the minister of Jiangbei province, were both shocked and doubtful. They did not quite believe that Yangzhou City could be breached in one day. However, the enemy cavalry outside the city were not fake, and this group of people had also blocked the news from outside the city. Now they could not receive any news, and they could not be sure whether the news of Yangzhou's fall was true or false.

But no matter what, the Yuan army soldiers in the city must have been panicked.

Not only that, Gaoyou City was also a key area managed personally by Min Zishun, the chief of the Jiangbei Intelligence Station. Although the siege had not yet begun, rumors began to spread in the city that night as soon as the main force of Zheng Yong's cavalry arrived.

There was a rumor that the Shengwu Army had a force of 100,000 soldiers and was about to attack the city, and some said it had a force of 200,000 soldiers. Then, as the rumor spread, it somehow became an army of 300,000 soldiers.

There are also those who say that the Tartars and Semites are demons from outside the Great Wall, and that their occupation of China caused the wrath of the Emperor of Heaven, and that the Grand Marshal of the Holy Martial Army is a god who has descended to earth with heavenly soldiers to slay demons and monsters, so the Tartars and other demons are vulnerable.

Some people don't believe it, and ask how to prove that it is the heavenly soldiers who came down to earth? Don't believe it? The heavenly soldiers who killed the demons must be punished by thunder. If you don't believe it, just wait to hear the cannon fire on the day of the siege. No, wait to hear the thunder!

Any Han soldier in the Yuan army who dares to fight for the Tartars will go to the eighteen levels of hell when the heavenly soldiers attack. After death, they will not be allowed to recognize their ancestors in the underworld, because these people are traitors who have forgotten their ancestors!
In addition to these outrageous rumors, there was also some more specific information circulating, such as that if you joined the Shengwu Army, you could get 50 acres of land, the Shengwu Army would abolish the Tartars' usury, and help to recapture relatives who had been sold.

And what will you get in the end if you continue to help the Tartars fight? You will not get any credit or reward while you are alive. All the credit belongs to the Tartars and the Semites. You are just a lowly southerner. After you die, the Semites will occupy your property, sleep with your wife, beat your children, and sell your daughter. You will also be spit on and cursed as a dog traitor. It's better to die. What do you want by helping the Tartars fight?
Then you ask what to do? If you want to save your life, property, wife and children, surrender quickly when the heavenly soldiers come. If you want to gain merit and be rewarded, turn your back quickly and kill the Tartars and Semu demons around you. Then you will be a hero!
That night, Li Qi had just discussed countermeasures with Dashi Tiemur. There was no news from the outside world, and they could not figure out whether the fall of Yangzhou was true or not. They could only make the decision to defend the city and wait for Prime Minister Toghto to lead his troops south, and the rebels would surely retreat.

But when he returned to the government office to rest, he heard a patrol of Yuan army soldiers in the city, discussing in a low voice the content of the land that could be divided among those who joined the Shengwu Army. Li Qi did not dare to say anything, hiding in the shadow of an intersection and listening carefully. After the patrol of soldiers went away, he suddenly cried out inwardly, "Oh no! The enemy army's spies have entered the city!!!"
He stamped his feet, so frightened that he dared not even go home, and hurriedly returned with his followers to find Dashi Temur, preparing to deal with the provincial governor together for a few days.
At the same time, Li Huafu in Taizhou received a message last night from Gaoyou prefect Li Qi that he was promoted and asked to recruit soldiers for counterattack. He immediately began to recruit soldiers into the city on a large scale. Not only did he recruit enough soldiers for his 19th Regiment, he even recruited more than people to form a supplementary regiment.

But it can't be said that Li Huafu was greedy. After all, it was Li Qi who asked him to recruit 10,000 soldiers, and he could also get money and equipment from the Taizhou treasury. Why shouldn't he recruit more?
By the afternoon of the 16th, Li Huafu not only successfully brought Yan Duxian, Shen Feng and Shao Hong, who had returned from internship in Jiangnan, into the city, but also let them control several city gates of Taizhou respectively. He himself, with his assistant Zhang Si, personally controlled the Taizhou government office and had actually taken control of the entire Taizhou city defense.

That night, Li Huafu received the heads of four people, including the left chancellor of Jiangbei Province, Qie Zhedu, the Wanhu of Yangzhou Road, the Darughachi, and the general manager, and the news that Yangzhou City had been breached by the main force of Zhu Liangzu's 36th Army.

Li Huafu was immediately shocked. "It's only been one day, and Yangzhou City has been breached?!"

"That's true. They even sent the head. How could it be fake?" Xiao An from the Taizhou Intelligence Department, the future instructor of the 19th Regiment, said immediately. Li Huafu sighed and said, "It's not that I don't believe it, but I think that General Manager Zhu and his men fought really fast. But what does it mean that they sent this head? After Yangzhou is taken, will General Manager Zhu bring the main force to join us? Or will we lead the troops to join them after the uprising?"

Xiao An said immediately, "I was just about to tell you this. General Manager Zhu and his men are not coming. After they defeat Yangzhou, they will head straight to Gaoyou. When we start the uprising in Taizhou and Taixing at the same time, and after Commander Bian leads his troops across the river, we will join forces and fight eastward first to capture Tongzhou and Haimen, then expand the army, leaving new soldiers to guard the city, and then the main force of our 108th Division will head north to meet General Manager Zhu.

"As for these heads, we will use them to persuade the eastern cities to surrender. At least it can lower the morale of the defenders."

Li Huafu nodded, "Okay, then let's start the uprising at dawn tomorrow as planned?"

"Yes." Xiao An responded, and took a very heavy bag from his subordinates, and smashed it on the table in front of Li Huafu with a bang. The subordinate next to him also handed him a wooden box, and then he said.

"Open it and take a look. This is a special gift from the Marshal for you."

"For me?" Li Huafu was a little surprised, wondering what could be so heavy?

He quickly unpacked the package, and under the light of the lantern, he saw the objects in the bundle gleaming with silver light. It turned out to be a straight fish-scale armor that only generals at the commander-in-chief level had. He couldn't take his eyes off it and reached out to touch the armor.

Xiao An then said, "According to the military system of the Shengwu Army, the regiment commander can only wear cloth armor, and only the commander-in-chief can wear this fish scale armor, but the commander-in-chief is the commander-in-chief. Although you voluntarily gave up the position of commander-in-chief to Bian Yuanheng, the commander-in-chief still allows you to enjoy the same treatment as the commander-in-chief and use the same etiquette as the commander-in-chief."

Li Huafu was deeply moved when he heard this. He clasped his hands together and bowed towards Jiankang in the southwest. "I, Li Huafu, have only made a few contributions, but the commander-in-chief appreciates me so much. I will definitely make more contributions in the future to repay the commander-in-chief's kindness."

Xiao An then handed over a small package, took out a few items from it and handed them to Li Huafu, then opened the long wooden box next to it, "This is your official appointment letter, deputy commander waist badge, and commander's copper seal.

"The Marshal heard that you are used to using a waist knife, so he specially ordered the craftsmen to make this Yanling steel knife for you, as well as this 19th regiment flag. I hope you can hold this imperially bestowed sword and win the first battle!"

With a clang, Li Huafu took the knife in his hand and drew it out of the sheath. The long and narrow blade reflected bursts of cold light and it was very smooth to wield. It was indeed a good knife, and it must have been specially customized according to his body shape, which was also thoughtful.

Li Huafu immediately said, "With this knife and this flag, Instructor Xiao, just wait and see. Tomorrow at the inauguration ceremony of our 19th Regiment, I will use this knife to kill the Taizhou County Magistrate as a sacrifice to the flag!"

"Then I will definitely watch carefully."

The next morning, after the cocks had crowed three times and it was just dawn, Taizhou County Magistrate Cheng Zixuan was visited by Zhang Si, who said that his colleague Li Huafu had gathered the newly recruited soldiers at the parade ground in the city and wanted the magistrate to go over and give a speech to the soldiers.

Cheng Zixuan covered his mouth and yawned, and was speechless for a moment, "Does Li Huafu have nothing to do? It's fine that he's messing with the soldiers so early in the morning, but he's also messing with me, the master. I won't go, why are you scolding me? Really, let him go by himself. Don't think that he can order me around just because he has been recruited and appreciated by Li Zhifu."

Zhang Si's face suddenly turned cold, "You really aren't going?"

Two burly men in iron armor suddenly came in from outside the door, holding the hilts of knives, and looked at Cheng Zixuan coldly.

Cheng Zixuan was immediately awakened by the shock, and immediately scolded fiercely, "Mian Zhang Si, what do you want to do? Do you want to rebel against Li Huafu?"

Unexpectedly, Zhang Si did not refute at all. Instead, he pulled out a steel knife from his waist with a clang, wiped the blade with his hand and looked at the pattern on it, and finally gently placed it on Cheng Zixuan's shoulder, and then said lightly.

"Mr. Cheng is indeed a scholar. You can actually guess this. Then, would you mind going with us?"

Cheng Zixuan was paralyzed by fear on the spot. The word "rebellion" was indeed a huge deterrent to those who had no intention of rebelling, but it was simply a joke to those who were ready to rebel. Who could have thought that these two people were actually going to rebel? He just wanted to scare Zhang Si.
"Mian, Mian Zhang Si, no, Captain Zhang, you are now an official appointed by the court, and the word rebellion cannot be said casually. I am warning you, you must not do anything reckless."

"I don't have time to chat with the magistrate. My brother is waiting to use your head as a sacrifice. Let's not waste time here. Let's go.

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you that grandpa has changed his name. If you go to hell and ask who captured you, don't say that my name is Zhang Si. From now on, grandpa's name is Zhang Daochong! Take you away!"

"You, don't come over here, Captain Zhang, Zhang Daochong, if you let me go, I'll give you money, and you and Li Huafu can go and rebel on your own, don't drag me into this!"

"Shut his mouth!"

"Uh-huh--"

In the parade ground in Taizhou city, Li Huafu, wearing a brand new straight fish-scale armor, with two pairs of iron arm guards on his shoulders and a precious sword hanging from his waist, stood on the platform to review his troops. Below him stood more than 19 newly recruited soldiers. Except for some people left to guard the city gate, the remaining main force of the th Regiment was also here in the parade ground, secretly surrounding another people.

Except for the headquarters of the 19th Regiment, the remaining people were recruited by him in the name of forming a Yuan army militia. If he wanted to start an uprising today, he naturally had to explain it clearly to them.

Seeing that Zhang Daochong had dragged County Magistrate Cheng, who had collapsed into a pile of mud, over from behind, Li Huafu shouted to the soldiers below.

"My dear brothers in the audience, do you know why I, Li Huafu, recruited you as soldiers yesterday?"

A soldier standing in the front row immediately shouted, "I know. Kill the bandits to protect the people and defend our hometown!"

"Well said. It is true that we should kill the bandits and protect the people, but who are the bandits? Who are the people? And whose hometown are we protecting? This must be made clear first." Li Huafu shouted loudly.

"Hmm?" The soldiers below the stage immediately started talking.

There was a gong bang and the place suddenly became quiet again. Li Huafu shouted again.

"Be quiet, listen to me. I am gathering you as soldiers today not to help the Tartars fight, and we are not going to kill the Red Turbans. Listen carefully, my fellow heroes. You and I are both Han brothers, why should we work for the Tartars? Have you all forgotten who your ancestors are?

"Today I will tell you the truth. I, Li Huafu, will kill the Tartars and the Semu dogs, and protect the good people of Han. I will restore the Han country and the people that have been passed down by our ancestors!"

The soldiers below were immediately shocked and started talking loudly. Some of them wanted to flee in panic, but others cheered loudly, saying that they had long been fed up with the Tartars and were willing to join Li Dapan in a rebellion.

However, Li Huafu shouted at this time, "Someone, bring it up!"

Soon, several soldiers came to the stage carrying four heads. County Magistrate Cheng Zixuan was also brought to the stage. When he saw the faces of the heads, he was horrified. He recognized all of them. They were clearly Mongolian officials in Yangzhou City. How could they suddenly appear here? Doesn’t this mean that Li Huafu not only wanted to rebel himself, but was also in league with the Luzhou bandits? ? ?

"My dear brothers, do you know whose heads these are? Let me tell you, this one is the left prime minister of Henan and Jiangbei provinces of the Tartars, Qie Zhedu! This one is the Wanhu Huoerchi of Yangzhou Road! This one is the Yangzhou Darughachi Tuohuchar! This one is the Yangzhou Road governor Xiliji!"

Upon hearing this series of names, the newly recruited soldiers in the audience were in an uproar. The place was filled with noise. No one had ever expected that Li Huafu could get these people's heads. This news was too explosive.

Some people have already thought of something, but many people haven't figured it out yet. Cheng Zixuan verified his guess and was so scared that he collapsed into a puddle of mud.

"You must want to know whether this head is real or fake, and how it fell into my hands. I will tell you now that I have secretly joined the Shengwu Army in Luzhou. Last month, General Lu of the Shengwu Army led 30,000 troops across the river. Within a few months, we recovered Jiqing, Zhenjiang, and Taiping, annihilated more than 100,000 Yuan troops, and expanded our own army by 300,000.

"On the tenth of this month, the Marshal sent another 36 troops to attack Jiangbei. Cong Lai'an led his troops all the way to Yangzhou, and they broke through Yangzhou City at sunset yesterday. These four heads were sent to me by Zhu Liangzu, the commander-in-chief of the th Army, who was the main general of the Jiangbei Campaign.

"Right now, the Shengwu Army's 100,000-strong army is in Yangzhou, west of us. Another 50,000-strong army crossed the river from Zhenjiang at noon today, and 150,000-strong army will soon be heading towards us.

"Now tell me, are you ready to fight for the Tartars and fight our Han brothers, or are you ready to join the Shengwu Army with me, Li Huafu, and follow General Lu to drive out the Tartars and rebuild China?
"Those who want to fight for the Tartars, think about whether you can defeat the 150,000 troops outside the city. Those who want to join the Shengwu Army with me to kill the Tartars, brothers and heroes present, count as one, and General Lu will grant each of you 50 acres of land! Abolish the Tartars' debt to the King of Hell, and rescue your family members who have been sold as slaves. Tell me, do you want to be slaves for the Tartars, or do you want to dress like a Chinese and become the ancestors of the Tartars!"

"Kill the Tartars and divide the land!" Someone below immediately took the lead in shouting, and immediately attracted everyone to follow.

"Kill the Tartars and divide the land!"

"Drive out the Tartars and restore China!"

"I'll do it with you. I want fifty acres of land!"

"Someone, raise the flag of our 19th Regiment!"

At Li Huafu's command, Xiao An came over personally holding the military flag, and the battalion officer Zhang Daochong dragged the county magistrate Cheng Zixuan to the front of the stage. This guy was so scared that he shit and pissed, and shook his head and cried wildly, but unfortunately his mouth was blocked and he couldn't say a word.

Li Huafu drew the sword from his waist and stabbed Cheng Zixuan in the chest. After killing him, he cut off his head and held the head of the county magistrate in his hand, shouting, "The county magistrate has been beheaded. Anyone who wants to share the land, follow me!"

At the same time, in Taixing County in the southeast, Lu Zhen's situation was much more straightforward. He sent nearly 17 of his men into the city in advance. At dawn on the th, the soldiers lurking in the city immediately rushed towards the Yuan army guarding the gate, occupied the city gate, and opened the city gate from the inside. Lu Zhen led the main force of the Salt Army that had already assembled into the city and easily occupied Taixing County.

In the morning, after breakfast, the surface of the Yangtze River upstream of Taixing was covered with thousands of sails. Bian Yuanheng led the main force of the 108th Regiment of the 20th Division, the borrowed artillery regiment of Qin Rong, and the main forces of the two divisions of the 40th Army led by Yu Tonghai and Zhang Desheng, a total of more than 21 troops landed in Taixing and successfully met with Lu Zhen's st Regiment.

The number of Shengwu Army troops participating in the Jiangbei Campaign officially exceeded 100,000. With red flags and terrifying military momentum, they were about to sweep across the entire Huaidong area.

(End of this chapter)