Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 333 Tuotuo is here
That night, Zhang Shicheng sent several brothers to the nearby salt field to recruit soldiers. With Zhang Shicheng's prestige in the salt field, it was not difficult to recruit people. Over ten thousand soldiers were recruited overnight. Together with the more than 3,000 soldiers in Baiju Field, the total strength had reached about 15,000.

Early the next morning, Zhang Shicheng led his newly recruited soldiers towards Xinghua, preparing to join the army of Zhao Zhongzhong, who was closest to him.

On the other hand, in Xinghua County, at noon on the 23rd, the detachment led by Zhao Zhongzhong captured Xinghua County in just one morning, which greatly shocked Du Hei'er and Gao Si who had just defected.

After capturing Xinghua County, Zhao Zhongzhong captured more than 3,000 prisoners from the city, and selected 900 of them to supplement the number of a full regiment for Du Hei'er and Gao Si's reserve first regiment. He then left Hao Miao's supplementary seventh regiment to guard the city, while the main force continued to march towards Yancheng.

It was at this time that Liu Ziren, the 'Volunteer Marshal' of the Yuan army, who had been ordered by Gaoyou prefect Li Qi to return to Dingxi Town to recruit soldiers, had just recruited 10,000 militiamen and was preparing to go to Gaoyou to meet up with Li Qi and prepare to counterattack the Shengwu Army in Yangzhou.

As a result, before he even set out, he heard the news that Gaoyou and Xinghua had fallen, and Li Qi and all the provincial officials of Gaoyou had been defeated and killed.

Liu Ziren was horrified. If Li Qi with 20,000 men couldn't even defend a strong city like Gaoyou, then he would be wasting his time with 10,000 recruits who didn't even have complete weapons and armor. So he didn't go to Gaoyou, but turned around and headed for Yancheng, intending to rely on the city of Yancheng to hold out, and perhaps he could hold out until the main force of the Yuan army from the north came to help.

In short, we have to find a place to settle down first. No matter how bad Yancheng is, there are still cities to stay in. Staying in the wild will only lead to death.

Unfortunately, this guy had a good idea, but he missed one point, because Zhao Zhongzhong was also rushing to Yancheng at this time. Unless Liu Ziren led his troops directly across the Huai River to Shandong, he would not be able to escape the pursuit of the Shengwu Army.
Sure enough, not long after this guy left for Yancheng, the detachment led by Zhao Zhongzhong caught up from behind. The two sides were about seven or eight miles apart, but Zhao Zhongzhong had no cavalry. Even if all the messengers were counted, there were only fifty or sixty cavalry, and they were not professional cavalry.

Without a large group of cavalry to intercept them in front, it would not be easy for Zhao Zhongzhong to catch up with Liu Ziren's Yuan army relying solely on infantry and the artillery team.

Fortunately, even if he didn't chase, Zhao Zhongzhong had roughly guessed the intention of the Yuan army ahead. Now all the cities south of Xinghua were occupied by the Shengwu Army. At this time, he could only go north to Yancheng. It happened that his destination was also Yancheng, so there was no need to chase so anxiously. He just had to not lose sight of this Yuan army.

But at this moment, an accident happened again.

Zhang Shicheng had just finished recruiting soldiers and was about to go to Xinghua to join the army. However, he sent a cavalry scout to Xinghua to inquire and found out that Xinghua had already been conquered by the Shengwu Army, and the Luzhou rebel general who had previously attacked Xinghua had also led his troops to Yancheng.

While Zhang Shicheng was impressed by the speed of the Shengwu Army's conquest of cities, he also changed direction. Since he was located further north, he decided to go to Yancheng first and wait for Zhao Zhongzhong to arrive.

As a result, on the road of more than 100 miles from Xinghua to Yancheng, there appeared a bizarre scene of the armies of three forces marching towards Yancheng together. According to different starting positions, Zhang Shicheng's 15,000 new recruits were in the front, followed by Liu Ziren, and finally the detachment led by Zhao Zhongzhong.

On the 24th, the three armies marched towards Yancheng together for a day and finally met in the area east of Dazong Lake. It turned out that Liu Ziren was walking and suddenly discovered Zhang Shicheng in front of him. Because he didn't understand the situation, he stopped immediately.

The same thing happened to Zhang Shicheng. He was marching towards Yancheng when he suddenly found an army of tens of thousands of people appearing behind him. At first he thought that Zhao Zhongzhong had caught up with him, but when he sent someone to take a look, he discovered something was wrong and quickly ordered his 15,000 new recruits to line up and face the rear to meet the enemy.

Zhang Shicheng's men were all new recruits and did not dare to go out and attack. The same was true for Liu Ziren's men, who were also all new recruits and did not dare to step forward. So the two sides remained in a stalemate, a typical case of using a straw to fight a wolf - both sides were afraid.

The two armies in front stopped advancing, allowing Zhao Zhongzhong, who was at the end, to catch up. On the afternoon of the 24th, the three armies of people were already in sight of each other. At this time, Liu Ziren, who was in the middle, was in the most awkward position, sandwiched between Zhao Zhongzhong and Zhang Shicheng.
The scouts that Zhao Zhongzhong had placed in the front also discovered something was wrong. Coincidentally, Zhang Shicheng also discovered Zhao Zhongzhong who was in the southernmost part, so this guy took the initiative to come and negotiate in person, saying that he was ready to surrender to the rebel army and that he knew Lu Zhen of the 108th Division.

Zhao Zhongzhong immediately asked in confusion, "You know Lu Zhen? Is he also a salt dealer in Huaidong?"

"That's right." Zhang Shicheng replied quickly.

"Which salt field in Huaidong are you from? How many soldiers do you have under your command?"

Zhang Shicheng added, "I am from Baijuchang. I just recruited 15,000 new soldiers yesterday and was about to go to Xinghua to join the general, but I heard that the general had already conquered Xinghua. I guessed that the general might continue to attack Yancheng, so I prepared to go to the front to wait for the general, but I didn't expect to meet him here."

Du Hei'er, who was standing next to him, was immediately surprised and asked, "You actually managed to recruit 15,000 soldiers. Do you have that many people at the salt field?"

Zhang Shicheng quickly showed his strength modestly, "I am a humble person, but I am famous in several nearby salt fields because I sell salt. Therefore, after I raised the flag to recruit soldiers, many people came to join me. It took several salt fields to recruit 15,000 soldiers."

Zhao Zhongzhong suddenly asked, "Can 15,000 soldiers gather all the weapons? What kind of military system do they use?"

Zhang Shicheng, who was very proud just now, was embarrassed when he heard this, "We recruited soldiers in a hurry and didn't have time to make weapons. We only have some hoes, shoulder poles, spears and the like. The military system is temporarily using the hundred-household and thousand-household system. The whole army is divided into a dozen thousand-household units, and I will command the whole army."

Zhao Zhongzhong nodded, as if thinking about something. Zhang Shicheng then said, "General, I have also heard of Liu Ziren ahead. Now that he is caught in the middle, shall we work together to kill him?"

Zhao Zhongzhong asked in return, "You can't even gather all the weapons, and all the soldiers under your command are newly recruited. What good are they?

"How about this, you don't have to fight. You go back and deploy your troops and set up a battle array outside. I can defeat Liu Ziren by myself. But my detachment doesn't have many cavalry, so we can't intercept the enemy's fleeing soldiers. If they run away and become bandits, they might cause trouble. You just need to help me intercept the Yuan army's fleeing soldiers outside and make them surrender. How do you think?"

Zhang Shicheng heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this. He was just being polite and showing his loyalty. He was not sure if he would really be asked to lead a group of new recruits to charge into the battle. But now Zhao Zhongzhong arranged a miscellaneous job for him, which was perfect.

So he immediately clasped his fists and said, "It's all up to the general. But how do I contact the general?"

"No need to contact me. When you hear me beating the drums to march forward, just wait outside and intercept the prisoners."

"Yes!"

After Zhang Shicheng returned, Zhao Zhongzhong said to Gu Shi, Tu Hai, Du Hei'er and others, "Although the enemy has 10,000 soldiers, they are all new recruits. They probably don't even know what a cannon is. If we fire the cannon first, the enemy may collapse before the first round of bombardment is over. We don't have cavalry, so we will definitely not be able to stop so many fleeing soldiers.

"So we should not use the artillery, but engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. My Tenth Regiment will attack from the front, Tu Hai will lead the Second Independent Regiment to attack the enemy's left wing, and Gu Shi's Eighth Supplementary Regiment will attack the enemy's right wing. Du Hei'er, your troops are all new recruits, so don't go up, just stay behind to protect the artillery."

"Yes!" The three of them immediately responded.

Half an hour later, Zhao Zhongzhong and Zhang Shicheng had completed their troops' formation. Zhao Zhongzhong immediately ordered an attack. The three regiments formed an inverted "T" shape and rushed towards Liu Ziren's army.

Behind Zhao Zhongzhong's formation, several cowhide war drums were beating loudly, shocking the four fields. The main force of Zhao Zhongzhong's 16th Regiment was responsible for the main attack on the front. The whole regiment was divided into companies, and large spear formations were lined up in a row. They marched in neat steps to the drum beats and killed towards Liu Ziren's formation. The new recruits under Liu Ziren had never seen such a formation before. Just seeing the neat formation and sonorous steps of the main force of the Shengwu Army, they were frightened and the front line was in turmoil. When the distance between the two sides was less than meters, the new recruits under Liu Ziren's command collapsed directly, and performed a vivid performance of what it means to flee at the sight of the wind!
Those new recruits were not fools. The army in front of them was invincible all the way from Chuzhou to Gaoyou and Xinghua. Even the regular government troops could not stop them. They used their heads to block the retreat, and no matter how Liu Ziren tried to stop them from behind, he could not stop the fleeing soldiers. This mob collapsed on the spot.

It was a brutal encounter where the enemy collapsed before the formal battle even started. All that was left was to persuade them to surrender and capture prisoners.

Zhang Shicheng and his brothers were just about to watch the show, but they didn't expect it to end like this. All the soldiers were stunned.

After a long pause, Pan Yuanshao said, "The Luzhou soldiers have demonstrated their military might. Ordinary Yuan troops no longer dare to fight against them."

Another captain, Li Bosheng, also said, "A person's reputation is like a tree's shadow. They have fought all the way from Luzhou and are unmatched. Who dares to fight them? It seems that we made the right choice to join the Luzhou troops."

At this moment, Zhang Shicheng also rode past the front of the battle group and shouted, "What are you still standing there for? Go and capture the surrendered soldiers!"

"Charge! Surrender and you won't be killed!"

The farcical encounter ended quickly. With Zhang Shicheng capturing prisoners on the outskirts, none of the 10,000 new recruits escaped. Even Liu Ziren himself was killed in the massacre, making a small contribution. In total, only a few hundred people were killed in the battle, and the remaining 9,000 people all surrendered.

After this battle, Zhao Zhongzhong took his own four regiments and an artillery battalion, as well as the remaining 2,000 prisoners captured in Xinghua, and the more than 9,000 prisoners captured from Liu Ziren in this battle, and finally Zhang Shicheng's 15,000 new recruits, and continued to march towards Yancheng.

A detachment was sent out from Gaoyou. When it set out, it consisted of only four regiments and an artillery battalion. By the time Zhao Zhongzhong led the large army to the outskirts of Yancheng, with the addition of prisoners and volunteers who voluntarily surrendered, his four regiments had expanded to a huge size of more than 40,000 people!

When Gong Xiangrong, the general of Yancheng in the Yuan Dynasty, saw this battle, he was shocked. Was he violating the law of heaven? He only led 4,000 people to defend a remote county town, and Yancheng didn't even have a moat. If the enemy army came with 10,000 or 8,000 people, he could still rely on the city to block it. You sent tens of thousands of people just to fight me? No, is it that serious? Gong Xiangrong was about to cry.

On the 26th, the day Zhao Zhongzhong arrived in Yancheng, he did not wait to build a fort to formally attack the city. He just symbolically displayed the heads of Gaoyou's senior officials to persuade them to surrender. Gong Xiangrong was very tactful and opened the gate to surrender the city.
So Zhao Zhongzhong incorporated the 4,000 defenders of Yancheng, and used the prisoners captured from Xinghua to supplement them with a few hundred people, and temporarily organized them into the Independent Third Regiment. At the same time, he left Gu Shi's Eighth Regiment to guard Yancheng, and he himself took a group of prisoners and new recruits of the rebel army to Huai'an to meet Zhu Liangzu.

On the way, Zhang Shicheng saw Gong Xiangrong, a surrendered general of the Yuan army, and Du Hei'er, who had led 3,000 soldiers to surrender, and they were both appointed as commanders. However, Zhao Zhongzhong had not given him an explanation for his 15,000 soldiers who had surrendered. He could not help but wonder, could it be that the Shengwu Army was reluctant to give him a position as a commander? Wouldn't his more than 10,000 soldiers have been recruited in vain?
So he took advantage of the opportunity to ask Zhao Zhongzhong while camping at night.

Zhao Zhongzhong then said, "Our Shengwu Army generals do not have the right to expand the army privately. The higher-ups are very strict. All soldiers must be registered. There is a roster at the commander's office because they need to distribute land to these soldiers. Have you heard about it?"

Zhang Shicheng nodded, "I've heard a little bit about it."

Zhao Zhongzhong continued, "But when fighting, it is inevitable to capture prisoners, recruit surrenders and rebels, and there are also voluntary armies coming to surrender, so the Marshal promised us that we can expand the army during the war, but we can only appoint temporary military positions, and the highest cannot exceed the level of commander. After the war, the Marshal's Office will reorganize and grant formal military positions. In other words, even if we say now that Gong Xiangrong will be the temporary commander, it will not count as long as the Marshal does not recognize it.

"According to the method the Marshal said, enemy generals who voluntarily surrender with their troops can be organized into temporary independent regiments, such as Tu Hai and Gong Xiangrong. And those we recruit ourselves or recruit from prisoners are called supplementary regiments, such as Gu Shi, who was left in Yancheng by me before.

"The last category is people like you and Du Hei'er, who are rebels who come to surrender with their troops. They can be temporarily organized into a reserve regiment. According to our military system, each regiment is divided into five thousand-household battalions, with a total of 4500 people. Du Hei'er is a few hundred short, so I can use prisoners to fill the gap and organize him into a reserve regiment.

"Your situation is rather special. You brought all those 15,000 soldiers with you. Logically, they could be organized into a division, but the Marshal didn't give us that right. He only allowed us to organize them into regiments at most. So even if I find General Manager Zhu, I can only organize them into three regiments and grant you three commanders for the time being."

Zhang Shicheng frowned and asked, "But I heard that the commander of the division that Lü Zhen is in is Li Huafu, the former judge of Taizhou. Why can he be the commander directly?"

Zhao Zhongzhong glanced at him and asked in confusion, "Oh, it seems that you have a special relationship with Lu Zhen. You even know that Li Huafu is the commander-in-chief?"

Zhang Shicheng did not hide the fact, "We sold salt and did business together."

Zhao Zhongzhong then explained, "First of all, Li Huafu's position as the commander-in-chief was not decided after the Jiangbei Campaign began, but was decided long ago, and was promised to him by the Marshal himself. Because he had already made great contributions to us before he joined our army, he cannot be counted according to the wartime expansion rules this time.

"Secondly, although he had just started his army, he had already captured Taizhou City. Isn't this also a military achievement? With military achievements, everything will be easy.

"Moreover, the commander-in-chief originally promised him the position of commander-in-chief, but he took the initiative to give up the position of commander-in-chief and became the deputy commander-in-chief. I'm afraid you don't know these things yet?"

Zhang Shicheng was stunned when he heard this. "I really don't know this. What about my business?"

"We will report your affairs truthfully. You brought those 10,000 soldiers. They are there. How can we do without your soldiers? Don't worry, this battle is almost over. After the battle of Huai'an, the Marshal's Office will definitely start to reorganize the troops in Jiangbei. Just wait for the news."

Zhang Shicheng finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly clasped his fists and said, "Thank you, General, for clearing up my doubts. But after we defeat Huai'an, won't we continue to fight northwards?"

Zhao Zhongzhong glanced at him and said, "Further north we will reach Shandong, Qi and Lu. What? You want to march north to Dadu in one go without taking a break? Soldiers are not made of iron, and you new recruits also need training and equipment. You need some time to rest. Now that you are here, you should make the best of it. Just wait."

"Yes."

Zhao Zhongzhong's detachment marched from Gaoyou to Xinghua on the 21st, captured Xinghua on the 23rd, annihilated Liu Ziren's Yuan army militia on the 25th, arrived at Yancheng on the 26th, and Yancheng surrendered on the spot. He then began to reorganize the troops and returned to Huai'an to join Zhu Liangzu's main force.

On the same day, Zhang Desheng's 40th Division of the 115th Army also arrived in Haimen County. Haimen, a small border county deep in the sea, had no intention of resisting when seeing Zhang Desheng leading tens of thousands of people to attack, and opened the city to surrender on the spot. At this point, the entire Yangzhou Road was occupied by the Shengwu Army.

On the other side, Zhu Liangzu's main force marched towards Baoying on the 21st, arrived at the city on the 23rd, launched an attack on the 24th, broke through Baoying on the same day, and then continued to march north towards Huai'an.

At this point, the only two cities left in the entire Jiangbei Campaign were Huai'an and Qinghe.

It was at this time that Zhima Li from Xuzhou brought a message to Lu Jin.

Tuotuo’s army has arrived, and the vanguard has reached Pei County in Huaibei!
(End of this chapter)