Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 169: Conquering Changsha
In September of 1643, the sixteenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty was in a precarious situation.

On April 22 last year, the Qing army captured Xingshan City.

Since then, with the fall of Songshan City on February 18 and the fall of Jinzhou on March 8, the Battle of Songshan came to an end and the Qing army achieved a complete victory.

The elite Ming troops outside the Great Wall were almost completely destroyed, leaving only Wu Sangui and his 30,000 remaining soldiers to retreat to Shanhaiguan.

In August of this year, Sun Chuanting led an army of 100,000 out of Tongguan to fight against Li Zicheng in Henan. He defeated Li Zicheng and forced him to Xiangyang.

Just when the Ming army was about to encircle Xiangyang and destroy Li Zicheng, things did not go as planned.

It happened that heavy rains hit Henan, the roads were muddy, and it was difficult to maintain food and fodder.

Seeing this good opportunity, Li Zicheng immediately sent Liu Zongmin with 10,000 cavalry to cut off the officers' and soldiers' food supply.

Seeing that the food supply was insufficient, Sun Chuanting had no choice but to return to open up the food supply route.

As a result, chaos arose during the retreat, allowing Li Zicheng to seize the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, resulting in a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Ruzhou.

In August of the same year, Zhang Xianzhong was forced to withdraw from Wuchang by Zuo Liangyu. He led an army of 200,000 south to Hunan and quickly occupied the entire territory of Hunan.

It was September at that time. After Zhang Xianzhong conquered Hunan, he continued to move south to attack Yongzhou, Changde, Hengzhou and other places.

He is currently leading the main force to advance into Pingxiang, Jiangxi, and is fighting with the Ming army in Yuanzhou.

It can be said that the current Ming Dynasty is facing internal and external troubles.

The Qing army was lurking outside Shanhaiguan.

Internal bandits were rampant, natural disasters and man-made disasters continued, land annexation was serious, corrupt officials were rampant, and large and small uprising forces continued to emerge.

Although Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian was diligent and busy with state affairs, he did not have the ability to turn the tide.

It can even be said that the ability is very poor.

So much so that under his rule, the country became increasingly turbulent and was on the verge of collapse.

Under such circumstances, people gradually came out from the dilapidated warehouse in the run-down mansion of Prince Ji's Mansion in Changsha.

The city of Changsha has become very dilapidated.

Although Zhang Xianzhong did not massacre the entire Changsha, he still caused varying degrees of damage.

The able-bodied citizens in the city had already fled, and those who could not escape could only hide in their homes. There were also bandits searching houses everywhere, looking for anything useful.

Although Prince Ji's palace was almost completely burned down, there were still a lot of precious wood left, so many people went into the palace to try their luck.

It’s okay for them to be on the periphery, but if they were inside, some of them would have been missing for several days.

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head and looked towards the sky.

In September, the weather in Hunan is not cold, but very hot. The sun is scorching in the sky, just like midsummer, making people feel hot.

Next to him, Mao Xiang and others set up a temporary command post with tents.

Little Zhu Di, Zhu Yunfeng, Ji He, Li Wenzhong, Fu Youde, Feng Sheng, Tang He and others were sitting around the table looking at a map.

This time, Lao Zhu brought the four of them here first.

Xu Da is still on the way. Zhu Yuanzhang has instructed Zhu Biao that if Xu Da comes back, he should explain the situation to Xu Da and then send Xu Da to the end of the Ming Dynasty.

The map is a modern situation map of September of the 16th year of Chongzhen. You can download it from the Internet and print it out directly with a printer.

At present, they have briefly explained the situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty to Li Wenzhong and others.

Zhu Yunfeng then took a pencil and drew a circle in Jinzhou in the northeast and said, "The current situation is that the Qing army has already fought outside Shanhaiguan, and Wu Sangui is guarding Shanhaiguan, and below."

He then drew a circle between Xiangyang and the Nanyang Basin to the north and said, "On September 14, Sun Chuanting and Li Zicheng's main forces fought fiercely in Jia County. Li Zicheng was defeated and fled to Xiangyang. Currently, Li Zicheng's main forces are in this area."

"According to the interrogation of the refugees we just captured, it is already September 18th, which means that it is raining heavily in the Ruzhou area at this time, and the Ming army is running out of food and grass. Li Zicheng will send Liu Zongmin to intercept the Ming army's food supply."

Zhu Yunfeng pointed to the location of Ruzhou and said, "On September 22, the Ming army was defeated in Ruzhou. This was the last chance for the Ming Dynasty. Not long after this battle, Sun Chuanting died in Tongguan. After that, Li Zicheng had no resistance and marched straight in, successively occupying Shaanxi and Shanxi, and finally breaking through Beijing!"

"Does this mean that we must rush to Sun Chuanting's aid before September 22nd?"

Li Wenzhong and others didn't say anything, Ji He asked first.

"Yes."

Zhu Yunfeng nodded and said, "But there is still a problem."

He drew a circle around Hunan and said, "Hunan is now occupied by Zhang Xianzhong. Although he is still attacking Jiangxi in the south, once he hears that another army has appeared in Changsha, he will definitely return to defend. We must capture Changsha."

"What?"

Ji He wondered, "Just charge out of the city and head north all the way to Xiangyang."

"First, four days is definitely not enough to get to Xiangyang, and second, there's the stone tablet!"

Zhu Yunfeng rolled his eyes at him and said, "Should we take the stele with us, or leave it here? If we take it with us, what will happen to its location? What if it gets destroyed? We won't be able to go back, so Changsha must be under our control."

This is the fundamental problem.

After all, this is the end of the Ming Dynasty in a parallel world. Zhu's roots are in the Hongwu Dynasty, and Zhu Yunfeng and others have their roots in modern times. It is impossible for them to give up the way home in order to save the Ming Dynasty.

So the stone tablet must be preserved.

Moreover, the stone tablet and the location are both indispensable. The space channel consumed a lot of energy and used industrial electricity. Hundreds of thousands of kilowatt-hours of electricity were input every day, consuming more than tens of millions of kilowatt-hours of electricity. It took several months to open it.

Changing the position means that the coordinates of the space channel have changed. If the original position cannot be found, energy will be consumed.

A few months is nothing, the key is where to find energy in the late Ming Dynasty?

Newton was born at this time and was just eight months old, but Tesla was not born until more than 200 years later. What was the use of having Newton who was only eight months old?

So they actually face a dilemma.

It was too late to rush north to rescue Sun Chuanting immediately, and we had to capture Changsha and save Prince Ji's Palace, otherwise it would be empty talk.

"Send someone to find a way to tell Sun Chuanting not to retreat, or to retreat together if necessary, and not to let Chen Yongfu be the last one to leave. Even if he is the only one to leave, it will be fine."

Young Zhu Di made a suggestion.

Li Wenzhong and others did not know enough about later generations and only had a preliminary understanding of the Ming Dynasty, so they did not rush to express their opinions for the time being.

Zhu Yunfeng nodded slightly and said, "This is the only way. Zhuge Liang always fought as the last one to leave. Sun Chuanting has to do the same, but I'm afraid I won't make it in time, and it's hard to say whether people will believe it or not."

It took four days to get from Changsha to Ruzhou, Henan, a straight-line distance of more than 600 kilometers, and the actual distance was more than 800 kilometers.

In later times, a plane takes more than an hour and a high-speed train takes more than three hours.

This was not impossible in ancient times. When An Lushan raised an army, he was 3,000 miles away from Chang'an, but Emperor Xuanzong of Tang learned about it in just six days.

It can be seen that if the express train is used at 800 miles, it should be able to travel 1,600 miles in three days and deliver the message to Ruzhou.

But the problem is that it was a normal dynasty. There was a post station every twenty miles. They would change horses but not people, so they had to keep running even if the horse died.

But embarrassingly, Chongzhen abolished the post station in the first year of his reign, leaving a man named Li Zicheng unemployed.
Moreover, even if the news was sent to Ruzhou, it was hard to say whether Sun Chuanting would believe it. Anyway, if a normal person saw someone reporting that the founding emperor had been resurrected and asked him to cover the retreat, he would most likely think that this was a treacherous plot by the enemy.

"Grandfather, what do you think?"

Ji He scratched his head and saw Lao Zhu standing outside the tent with his hands behind his back, looking at the sky in the distance.

At this moment, people are coming and going around him.

A large amount of supplies were placed around the warehouse of Prince Ji's Mansion. Mao Xiang was directing the soldiers to move the supplies, build tents, and store them.

"Our ancestors should have discovered this a long time ago."

Zhu Yunfeng said.

Zhu Yuanzhang might not be so good at governing the country, but when it comes to fighting wars, he has been regarded as the second best in China since ancient times after Li Shimin. How could he not notice it?
"Ah."

Old Zhu turned around and responded, "It's definitely too late to go to Ruzhou, so go directly to Tongguan. Send someone to go through the Wuguan trail and make sure to help Sun Chuanting defend Tongguan."

"Defend Tongguan?"

Zhu Yunfeng said: "One or two people will definitely not be enough. We need to divide the troops, at least a thousand people."

The AK is indeed powerful and is more effective in killing people than the bolt-action rifle.

However, Li Zicheng actually had artillery, many of which were captured from the Ming army. There are records of him using artillery many times when he attacked Luoyang, Tongguan, and Beijing.

Even if the AK has enough bullets, it is only invincible within a few hundred meters. The range of artillery is far greater than that of automatic rifles, and can reach up to four or five kilometers.

Although they were all solid bullets, as a firearms unit, Zhu's troops were definitely dispersed in units of small flags, and the lethality was not great.

But Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't bring too many people with him when he came to the end of the Ming Dynasty, so one less person would be one less person.

What's more, they are elite soldiers who are skilled in the use of firearms. In terms of life, an old Zhu's imperial guard is the same as any other person, but in terms of role and value, they are much greater than a Ming soldier at that time.

So if there are too few people, it will be useless, and if there are too many people, Lao Zhu’s place will not be enough.

"Dad, I'm willing to go!"

Little Zhu Di immediately stood up and said, "As long as you give me 500 men, no, 300 men, I will be able to defend Tongguan for Sun Chuanting."

"Well"

Zhu Yuanzhang began to hesitate.

He did not doubt young Zhu Di's ability.

Young Zhu Di was naturally gifted and had a modern background. He had studied a large number of modern political and military books and videos as well as various historical materials. The team he led was a hot weapons unit, so it was highly unlikely that he would lose the battle.

But the army fights with swords and guns without mercy, not to mention that the enemy also has cannons.

If it were during the Hongwu reign, he would have let young Zhu Di go to maintain his Ming Dynasty, because the purpose of enfeoffment of kings was to do just that.

But I still feel a little reluctant to help Chongzhen fight a war.

What if something happens to little Zhu Di?
So I hesitated for a moment.

Seeing his hesitation, little Zhu Di roughly understood, and continued: "Father, I will be very careful on this trip, and there will be no mistakes."

"Well, then take 800 people with you. Let Wen Zhong go with you, bring a radio, and report the situation at any time. Don't be reckless."

Seeing his firm attitude, Zhu Yuanzhang finally said: "Also bring all kinds of equipment with you. Don't be short of supplies. If something goes wrong, or Tongguan cannot be defended, abandon the city and escape. Your life is the most important."

"Yes, my child understands!"

Young Zhu Di was overjoyed and immediately called Li Wenzhong out to gather eight hundred people.

These people were all wearing modern tactical vests and carrying backpacks on their backs. The backpacks contained a basic amount of ammunition, a large amount of compressed biscuits, marching rations, instant dry food, etc.

In addition, there are ropes, short shovels, night vision goggles and thermal imagers, water bottles, and a small amount of bandages, anti-inflammatory drugs and other items.

But these things can only sustain a person for more than ten days at most. Compressed biscuits can be filling, but soldiers consume a lot of energy during long journeys and need to eat a lot, so they have to ride tricycles on the road.

On the roads these days, it is probably difficult to ride a tricycle, and it would be troublesome if the chain broke on the road.

It's just that troubles have to be overcome.

If the chain breaks, find a cart and use animals to pull it. You should be able to reach Shaanxi eventually.

In addition, the road may not be peaceful. In addition to Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, there are refugees everywhere. The Ming army in some places is not a good thing, such as Zuo Liangyu's troops.

Therefore, Zhu Di had to be careful in everything, and it was a great test of his ability.

Soon it was evening.

Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He have been delivering supplies here since morning, noon and afternoon. They have prepared a large amount of baggage. There are more than a hundred tricycles alone, which are full of dry food.

Most of them are compressed biscuits, which are not delicious but filling.

As the sky gradually darkened, Old Zhu looked up at the sky and said to Young Zhu Di, "We will take Changsha tonight and then go out of the city to wipe out Sun Kewang. You will immediately set out through Wuguan to Shaanxi. At this time, the main force of Li Zicheng's troops are gathered in Henan, so it will be easy for you to get there."

"it is good."

Little Zhu Di nodded.

At present, they have learned a lot of useful information through drones and refugees in the city.

For example, at this time Zhang Xianzhong was not in Changsha, but went south to attack Jiangxi.

There were also about 30,000 people outside the city, judging by the number of tents.

The commander guarding outside the city was Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son Sun Kewang, while the city was guarded by Yin Xianmin, the general of Hunan who surrendered to Zhang Xianzhong, his deputy general He Yide, and several other generals of Zhang Xianzhong.

After the Prince Ji's Palace was burned down, Sun Kewang lived in the military camp outside the city, while the other generals of Zhang Xianzhong and Yin Xianmin and He Yide lived in the provincial government office.

On the surface, he seemed to trust the two people who surrendered, but in fact, he was on guard against them.

Because the city could not accommodate so many people, and after Changsha was captured, the city gates had been destroyed and could not be closed at all.

Therefore, once Yin Xianmin and He Yide make any unusual moves, they can counterattack in an instant.

Ultimately it was out of distrust. The main force was stationed outside the city, and the city was also filled with Zhang Xianzhong's men and generals, so they couldn't cause any trouble.

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately formulated a strategy. After nightfall, Mao Xiang led his men directly to the provincial government office and dealt with several of Zhang Xianzhong's generals and Yin Xianmin and He Yide.

Then their main force rushed towards the South Gate, opened it, and attacked Sun Kewang's camp outside the city.

Logically speaking, their fighting power is incredible, so they don't need to be so cautious.

However, Lao Zhu did not intend to take the risk, which would not result in failure, but in putting the soldiers in danger.

It is indeed possible to charge out and engage in street fighting during the day, but if the enemy archers shoot indiscriminately and an unlucky soldier is accidentally shot, it will be an unnecessary loss.

So why take the risk when the enemy is relaxed at night? They have night vision goggles and are already invincible.
At that moment, Young Zhu Di, Old Zhu, as well as Li Wenzhong, Fu Youde, Feng Sheng, Tang He and others took action respectively, commanding their troops and acting according to Old Zhu's plan to capture Changsha tonight.

(End of this chapter)