The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 181 Where is King Wu’s main force?
In the Wuying Hall of the Forbidden City in Yingtian Prefecture, the Ming Emperor Zhu Zhonglin threw a scroll to the ground and cursed in anger:

"Asshole, shameless, trash—"

A few days ago, the Earl of Huai'an sent someone to deliver an urgent military report, claiming that the Qing general Doral Hailancha led an army of 50,000 to cross the river and march south. The Earl of Huai'an was unable to resist and asked the emperor for support.

The emperor thought at the time that this was most likely because the Qing Dynasty had received news of Zhu Jianxuan's Northern Expedition, so it took the initiative to go south to seize the initiative on the battlefield.

The emperor also knew that the Earl of Huai'an was not very stable and that he had had contact with the Qing Kingdom in the past.

If the imperial court did not send direct military support, this thing might deliberately allow the Qing army to pass through the border and allow the Qing army to go south to plunder the local areas.

So the emperor directly sent 50,000 garrison troops from Yangzhou to the north to rescue.

What the emperor never expected was that what the Earl of Huai'an did was even worse than he had predicted. He directly cooperated with the Qing Dynasty and took the initiative to lead the Qing army across the river.

With Huai'an Earl's own 30,000 troops, he set up an ambush together with 50,000 Qing troops and surrounded the 50,000 support troops of the Ming Dynasty.

After the encirclement was successful, the Qing army general Hailancha wrote a letter requesting peace and sent it to Yingtian Prefecture to the Ming Emperor.

Request the Ming Emperor to order King Wu to stop the Northern Expedition and sign a formal peace treaty with the Qing Dynasty.

Please be more polite in your writing, but in essence, you are taking 50,000 Ming troops as hostages and asking the Ming Dynasty to stop this attempt to march north.

The bastard the emperor called was the Earl of Huai'an, the shameless one he called was the Qing general, and the useless one he called was his own general.

Then the emperor looked around and suddenly asked another question:

"Where is the King of Wu? Isn't he planning to march north? Where is his main force now?"

The Minister of the Honglu Temple came forward and reported:

"The last news was in Quanzhou Prefecture, where the Wu King's Northern Expedition Fleet joined the Min Duke's Fleet and continued northward together."

The emperor was a little angry:

"He went north. Where exactly did he go north? Wasn't he going to the Northern Expedition? Why didn't he come to the capital?"

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites didn't know how to answer and he was also speechless.

The King of Wu's large fleet passed through the Fujian Strait and indeed reached the mainland, but they did not go ashore afterwards.

The atmosphere in the hall was strange, and the Junior Secretary of the Honglu Temple suddenly ran in:
"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the King of Wu sent an envoy to Beijing and brought two main divisions to Yangzhou, saying that they were here to help destroy the Qing army heading south."

The emperor was stunned for a moment:
"Hurry and get him in."

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites immediately ran out to announce the imperial edict, and trotted into the hall with Fei Chun.

The emperor asked directly without waiting for him to salute:
"Where is King Wu's main force?"

Fei Chun bowed and said:

"Your Majesty, the main force led by His Royal Highness the King of Wu should be near Dengzhou now."

The emperor and the officials on the scene were visibly stunned.

The emperor was shocked and asked directly:
"Dengzhou? Does he want to go directly to Shuntianfu? Isn't he afraid that the Qing fleet will cut off his retreat?"

Fei Chun quickly explained:
“Your Majesty the King of Wu has successively occupied Jeju Island, Incheon Port, and Nampo Port in North Korea, and now the Korean capital, Pyongyang, should have been captured as well.

"We have occupied Haizhou and Jiaozhou at the same time, and should be attacking Dengzhou, Laizhou and other places now, and will continue to occupy Lushunkou later.

“After occupying important ports around the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, we will land in Tianjin and finally attack Shuntian Prefecture.

"Without these ports, the Qing navy would be like a rootless duckweed."

The emperor and the officials around him all looked stunned, as if asking, "Are you kidding me?"

Shouldn't the Northern Expedition start from places like Huai'an, Fengyang, and Xiangyang, cross the Huai River and the Yellow River and head north to Henan?

You just ignore these territories in the south and go directly to North Korea and Shandong Peninsula?

Although the emperor felt that his son was too outrageous, his anger had quickly subsided. Taking over these places was already a huge achievement.

The emperor was stunned for a few seconds before asking about the situation:

"Is the battle going smoothly so far?"

Fei Chun continued to explain:

"So far, everything has gone smoothly. We have destroyed more than 100 Qing warships and annihilated or captured more than 50,000 Qing ground forces.

"It was only when we occupied Haizhou that we discovered that the Qing troops in Haizhou had already moved south.

"The Wu army's main force, the Seventh Division, chased all the way to the Yellow River, only to discover that the Qing army's Hebei garrison had also crossed the river to the south.

“So His Royal Highness the King of Wu ordered the Seventh Division to block the Yellow River, while the Eighth Division occupied the area north of the Yellow River to southern Shandong.

"At the same time, I ordered the Ninth and Tenth Divisions to move south and prepare to go north through the canal to Huai'an to annihilate the Qing army."

When the emperor heard this, he finally realized a big problem:

"You mean, King Wu has cut off the Qing army's retreat? And he did it by accident?"

Fei Chun felt sweat on his forehead:

"Yes, Your Majesty, it was indeed an accident. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu originally only wanted to occupy Haizhou, an important port in the southern part of the Qing Dynasty..."

The emperor was immediately delighted, clapping his hands and cheering:

“Okay, okay, that Hailancha in the north and the Earl of Huai’an don’t know about this yet.

"This group of Qing troops is doomed. Immediately send more troops north and join forces with the besieged troops inside and outside to completely annihilate Hailancha's Qing troops."

Fei Chun said in a panic:

“Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the King of Wu suggests that the frontline operations be handed over to the main forces of Wu, and the main forces of the court should focus on suppressing the local vassal states.

"Huaian Bo may plot a rebellion, and so may other vassal states, including those in the north and southwest."

The emperor was a little unhappy, but eventually accepted the suggestion:
"That's good. The main force of Huai'an under siege is also 50,000. As long as we launch another attack from the outside, we may be able to break the siege directly.

"Immediately organize transport ships to send Wu's two main divisions northward. I'll see how long it will take you to defeat them."

Fei Chun continued to explain in a panic:

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the King of Wu means that the Ninth Division of Wu's main force will be responsible for Huai'an, and the Tenth Division will go to Wuchang, forcing the Duke of E to join the Northern Expedition."

The emperor frowned:
"Ten thousand people? What can ten thousand people do? War is not a joke. Don't take risks if you can defeat cleverness with force."

Fei Chun could only produce physical evidence:
"His Royal Highness the King of Wu sent a batch of weapons for the main divisions of the Wu Kingdom. These are all new inventions accumulated by His Royal Highness the King of Wu over the years, and they can all be said to be epoch-making weapons.

"Your Highness suggests that Your Majesty can use and inspect it personally, and then you can have an accurate understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Wu Kingdom's main division."

The emperor immediately became interested. His son was a great inventor and he must have not been idle during the past few years away. He must have created a batch of good things again.

So the emperor immediately went to the training ground of the Imperial Guards and asked his guards to open the several boxes brought by Fei Chun.

One box of twenty Wu-type II revolvers and one box of fifty bitter acid grenades.

A box of ten 8mm Type A bolt-action rifles, four of which are specially selected high-precision models equipped with a six-fold scope.

A box of ten 12mm Type A2 bolt-action rifles, four of which are specially selected high-precision models and are equipped with an eight-fold scope.

The old emperor knew how to use guns, and was very skilled at it, but these new guns still surprised the old emperor.

Fei Chun asked the accompanying officers to explain to the old emperor how to use these weapons.

Then there was a continuous burst of exclamations at the shooting range.

The latest batch of weapons from the Wu State was completely subversive to the armies of that era.

After the old emperor personally experienced it, he asked Fei Chun with an extremely serious expression:
"How many of these muskets does the Wu army have?"

Fei Chun answered honestly:

"Currently, the Wu army has completed the replacement of all its members, and only the garrison in North Africa uses the previous generation of black powder version.

"The annual production of Type A rifles has exceeded 300,000. "In addition to keeping some for replacement by the Wu army, more rifles can be sold to the Ming court troops."

The old emperor carried two revolvers with him:
"Although it's hard to believe, there have been too many unbelievable things that have happened to this kid. I can only accept this reality.

“No wonder this guy is planning to charge directly to Shuntian Prefecture. Now there is no one in the world who can stop his troops from advancing.

"Then the war in Qing will be completely handed over to King Wu. I will focus on dealing with the constraints of the vassal states."

After exchanging information, Fei Chun said goodbye to the old emperor.

At the same time, the Wu State's main force, the Ninth Division, had already set out north and went directly to Huai'an on a steam sailing ship on the canal.

The 50,000 main forces of the Ming Dynasty court were right next to the Huai'an Canal. After landing, they were blocked by the Qing army and the army of the Earl of Huai'an outside the city of Huai'an.

The Earl of Huai'an blocked the river and waited for a response from the Ming court, but what arrived was the main force of the Wu State, the Ninth Division.

Faced with the Huai'an fleet blocking the river, the staff of the 9th Division sent someone out to make a statement.

He asked the Earl of Huai'an to accept the orders of the King of Wu, accept the direct command of the Ninth Division of the Wu Kingdom, eliminate the Hailancha Division of the Qing Army heading south, and then follow the King of Wu to the north to attack the Central Plains.

At this time, Huai'an Earl and Hailancha were both somewhat confused about the current situation.

The original Northern Expedition Manifesto was issued by King Wu, but they did not see any trace of King Wu's army. Instead, they captured a main force of the Ming Dynasty court.

To the extent that people now begin to suspect that the manifesto was originally issued by the Ming Dynasty court and was deliberately issued under the banner of the King of Wu.

Now, the officers under the command of the Earl of Huai'an still believe in this judgment after hearing the calls from here.

Otherwise, the King of Wu’s army should have arrived in Huai’an first.

The officers of the Huai'an fleet did not explicitly reject the King of Wu's order, nor did they publicly talk about their cooperation with the Qing Dynasty.

He just found a civil servant to make things easier and said that he was not capable of participating in the Northern Expedition.

Then they said that the Qing Dynasty hoped to make peace with the Ming Dynasty, so they would ask about the Ming Dynasty's attitude on their behalf.

Finally, it was expressed that the Earl of Huai'an also hoped that the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty could completely shake hands and make peace.

This is beneficial to all people in the world.

The commander of the Ninth Division of the Wu Kingdom looked at the situation and had no intention of continuing to talk nonsense with them:

“We can’t waste time with them here. We must resolve the battle here as soon as possible before we can start a large-scale siege.

"Otherwise, all the credit will be taken by other troops.

"These vassal states disobeyed the king's orders and explicitly refused and delayed the Northern Expedition. This is already an obstruction to the Northern Expedition. The king allows us to kill them!
"So prepare to attack—"

The Huai'an army could never imagine how violent and anxious this so-called army from the Wu State would be.

The Huai'an Army, the Qing Army, and most contemporary officers took the bargaining and communication process for granted, but the Ninth Division considered it a pure waste of time.

If they did not surrender or open fire directly, they would be deliberately delaying time, which would affect their future battle results.

The commander of the 9th Division and his staff planned the battle plan on the spot.

He called back the staff officer who had just gone forward to give the order, slightly adjusted the formation of the entire fleet, and launched an attack directly on the water.

At the commander's command, a dense rain of bullets flew out.

The officers and soldiers on the Huai'an fleet were shot one after another, and in shock and panic they were quickly sent into the water to feed the fish.

Now the morale of Wu's main force is at its peak. Relying on its range advantage, it directly broke up Huai'an Earl's blockade fleet and continued to attack the enemies on the shore and on the water.

The fleet of the 9th Division continued to move forward regardless of anything, and rushed all the way to the outside of the encirclement set up by the Qing army under the city of Huai'an Prefecture.

After covering each other and coordinating to land, they directly launched an attack on the Qing army and Huai'an troops.

There was no way for the 30,000 men of the Huai'an Earl to gather together and attack with the 50,000 Qing troops. The number of enemies facing the Ninth Division might be less than 10,000.

Under the terrifying power of bolt-action rifles, rocket launchers, and grenades, the defenders in this direction could not hold out for more than a few minutes and soon fled in disarray.

The Ninth Army easily opened up a huge gap in the originally well-constructed encirclement.

Hailancha and Huai'anbo were stunned when they received the news:

"Is this military officer crazy? We are negotiating!"

"What is going on here? Has the imperial court decided to fight? What should we do?"

Neither of them received any answers to their questions, and the generals around them didn't know what was going on with the Ninth Army.

The main force of the Ming Dynasty, which was surrounded by the Qing Army and the Huai'an Army, had already discovered that fighting had broken out outside. For them, this must be the arrival of reinforcements.

Moreover, it has been decided to engage in a firefight with the Qing army and the Huai'an army, which means that the intention to negotiate has been directly abandoned.

The commander gave the order to break out without hesitation.

The encirclement had already been broken, and the Ming army rushed in this direction and soon came into contact with the charging 9th Division.

The commander of the 9th Division did not care who the other party's officers were. He directly took the King of Wu's order and asked the other party to cooperate in annihilating the Huai'an rebels and the Qing army heading south.

The officers of the Ming Dynasty court did not dwell on this issue and immediately expressed their willingness to cooperate with the Ninth Division's actions.

Therefore, the Ninth Division of Wu State's main force cooperated with the Ming Dynasty army to launch a full-scale attack on the remaining Qing army and Huai'an rebels.

The Ninth Division acted as the spearhead, rushing forward at an extraordinary speed, while the imperial army served as the flank force responsible for advancing the front line.

The Qing army and Huai'an rebels were defeated and could not withstand the attack of the Ming army.

Hailancha ordered the execution of several generals, but still could not control the defeat. He had to order a retreat to the Yellow River to see whether he could cross the river to the north.

As a result, when they arrived at the beach of the Yellow River, they found the flags of the Ming Dynasty and the King of Wu flying on the opposite bank.

Hailancha was stunned when he saw these flags:
"This... The Nanming Wu Wang's army has already gone to Hebei! How is this possible! How is this possible!"

Huai'an Bo also completely collapsed:

"The escape route to the north bank is gone. What should we do?"

When Hailancha was extremely shocked, shells began to fly over from the opposite bank and exploded among the Qing troops who had rushed onto the river beach.

Opposite them was Liu Biao's main force of the Wu State, the Seventh Division, which had pulled some of its artillery onto the beach of the Yellow River.

The Yellow River's embankment is very wide, but the river channel is usually only a few hundred meters wide, and conventional artillery can bombard across the river, not to mention the Wu State's rifled cannons.

Behind the Qing army, the Ninth Division of the Wu Kingdom and the troops of the Ming Dynasty also began to surge onto the riverbank.

This time it was the Qing army and the Huai'an rebels who were surrounded.

For the Qing army and Huai'an rebels, the enemies chasing them were extremely brutal and they had no way to resist.

During the retreat, things became increasingly chaotic and morale became increasingly low.

Retreating back to the north was their last psychological hope.

Now that this retreat route has been confirmed to have been cut off by the enemy, the remaining morale has been completely destroyed.

The soldiers no longer paid any attention to their generals and began to surrender or flee in droves. Some were so panicked that they jumped directly into the Yellow River.

The battle lasted until the next day before it was finally over.

The total number of Qing troops and Huai'an rebels was more than 80,000, and the number of prisoners captured in the end exceeded 30,000.

More than 20,000 people were killed in the chaos.

More than 20,000 people are still missing. They may have been lucky enough to get separated from the main force and not be discovered by the Ming Dynasty troops, or they may have fallen into the Yellow River and been washed away.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the Earl of Huai'an surrendered early and was eventually captured intact.

Most of the Qing army generals led by Hailancha were killed in the melee, and a small number were captured like Huai'an Bo and others.

(End of this chapter)