The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 760 The Distant Heaven

I must be the only person in the world who knows where I am, and I can be sure that I have disappeared. -Michael K
On the eighth day of the eleventh month of the seventh year of Guangde, the army to quell the rebellion arrived at Wuchang Prefecture. Deng Changxiong ordered the army to rest for a while in Jiangcheng. Three days later, the royal army launched an attack on the rebels entrenched in Yunmeng County.

Shortly after the fall of Yunmeng County, soldiers who escaped from the city reported that there were more than 10,000 rebels in the city, most of whom were farmers from the Jingxiang area who had never received any training. The Fourth Corps had deployed a small number of artillery in Yunmeng, but almost no rockets, not to mention airships.

"If that's the case, why were you defeated? Are the rifles and bayonets in your hands just for show?!"

Ten miles east of Yunmeng, there was the main tent of the royal army. The great commander-in-chief of the world's anti-rebel movement was surrounded by a group of generals. Under the tent knelt several generals of the defending army who had escaped from the city before it was broken.

Deng Changxiong had an indifferent expression, his eyes staring blankly at the ground. Several generals who looked like instructors beside him pointed at the defeated soldiers and started cursing without waiting for the commander-in-chief to speak.

"Stop talking nonsense! The imperial court has 70,000 to 80,000 troops stationed in the Jingxiang area. Excluding the 30,000 troops of the Fourth Corps, you have a total of over 50,000 men, well-equipped and well-stocked with food and fodder. You far outnumber the rebels. And now, before reinforcements have arrived, you've already completely abandoned all the prefectures and counties. If the Grand Marshal had arrived two days later, wouldn't even Wuchang and Hanyang have been occupied by Liu Yufei?"

The man kneeling on the ground knew that he was in great danger, so he had no choice but to argue: "Shangguan Rong, it's not that we are cowards, it's just that the rebel is too powerful..."

At this time, another instructor whispered to Deng Changxiong, "General, Chu has been at peace for a long time. It's been almost twenty years since we last fought a war. These defenders are no match for us back then. In my opinion, the fall of Yunmeng was not due to war, but rather..."

The instructor interrupted, "What do you mean by 'no guilt'? You had firearms more powerful than the Fourth Corps, and your numbers were greater than Qin Jianxun's, yet you ended up fighting like this, losing repeatedly and forcing people all the way from Yunyang to Yunmeng. And you still have the nerve to say it was no guilt?"

Deng Changxiong coughed violently twice, facing the defeated soldiers, and waved his hand:
"Drag them away and chop them off. Use their heads as a sacrifice. After an hour, we will attack Yunmeng with all our might!"

The guards on both sides rushed forward and dragged the defeated soldiers outside without saying a word. Soon, the sound of heads falling to the ground was heard outside the door.

The remaining defeated soldiers were terrified, their faces pale. They had never expected Deng Changxiong to be so cruel.

"Marshal, please spare my life!" Hearing that he was going to be killed, the surviving defeated soldiers kowtowed to Deng Changxiong frantically, and their heads hit the ground with a bang.

"General, as long as you don't kill us, even if it means letting us be cannon fodder, rushing to the front and climbing the city wall, we can make meritorious contributions while serving our sentence."

"Please, Marshal, spare our lives!"

Deng Changxiong didn't even look at these defeated soldiers, but waved his hand to signal them to drag them away quickly.

No matter what the reason for defeat, as long as you become a deserter, you will do it again. When you encounter some difficulties on the battlefield, you will consciously choose to give up and surrender. One person leads a group of people, and a group of people leads the entire corps of soldiers, and finally everyone surrenders together.

Therefore, deserters must die.

Liu Yufei retreated towards Junzhou before the royal army arrived in Yunmeng. The princess's behavior naturally gave people the impression that the rebels were afraid of the royal army and did not dare to confront the main force led by Deng Changxiong head-on.

At the end of November, after three days of artillery preparation and under the cover of airships, tens of thousands of soldiers used ladders, shield carts, tunnels and other siege methods, and successfully captured Yunmeng City after a day of fierce fighting.

The king's army suffered more than two thousand casualties, some of whom were accidentally injured by the muskets of both sides while watching the excitement.

Most of the defenders in the city were killed in the battle. The few survivors were mostly the elderly, the weak and the sick, and some were injured rebel soldiers who were unable to retreat in time.

The generals of each camp asked the commander-in-chief how to deal with these prisoners.

Deng Changxiong's answer was straightforward and powerful: "Kill them all. Each battalion should collect food and grass in the city, and set fire to the city before leaving." The commanders of the various battalions did not show much surprise when they heard such an order, because killing everyone had already been written into the imperial edict by Emperor Guangde. It was the duty of soldiers to obey orders. Wherever the emperor said the sword should point, everyone would point their swords there.

After the system processed all the living people in Yunmeng City, Deng Changxiong could finally rest for a while.

However, once the killing began, it could not be stopped. As far as he knew, the next areas to be pacified would be Xiaogan and Suixian.

"We, the gentry and good people, wish the Marshal a great victory. I have heard that..."

Deng Changxiong glared at the man coldly without saying anything.

Local officials expressed strong pessimism about the prospects of suppressing the rebellion. Everyone emphasized that they had done their best, especially the generals who retreated from Xiangcheng, Fancheng and Gucheng.

"Liu Yufei has a giant python. Its scales are harder than a soldier's armor, and even a lead bullet wouldn't hurt it at all."

"Didn't you try to use artillery?"

The reinforcements were frightened when they heard that they were about to face an existence beyond common sense. As the rebels continued to advance westward, the legends about the bandit leader Liu Yufei became more and more bizarre.

Deng Changxiong disdained these stories about ghosts and gods. He did not believe that the emperor had really ascended to heaven. If there really were such things as ghosts and gods in this world, the things he had done in implementing the new policy would be enough for the emperor to come down and kill him ten times.

"It's just that the defenders in various places have poor defense and use it as an excuse to evade responsibility." The staff also said this to Deng Changxiong.

"Lin Zhenyu's father, the Marquis of Zhennan, Duke Chengguo, once saved the princess' life. In Wendeng County, they were nearly beheaded by Wu Shen. If we can persuade Liu Yufei with both reason and emotion, and win without fighting, that would be the best."

Deng Changxiong shook his head slightly. "Lin Yu is dead, and his son is now among the rebels. As for Wendeng saving people back then, times have changed. It's meaningless to talk about it now."

Deng Changxiong knew that the conflict between Emperor Guangde and the eldest princess was not just a struggle for the throne, but also a life-and-death struggle between two systems and two lines.

Liu Kan and Liu Yufei, brother and sister, can only one of them survive now, it's either you die or I die.

The worst thing is that both of them regard themselves as the successors of the Da Qi Dynasty, and are determined to build Da Qi into a heavenly kingdom in their own way.

When the Wuchang defenders mentioned Liu Yufei, their expressions changed noticeably, which was extremely rare in the Qi army.

"The imperial court has hundreds of airships, each of which can burn down a fortress, not to mention pythons and turtles..."

"Duke Chengguo, this is not an ordinary turtle, but a black tortoise."

Deng Changxiong wanted to comfort these people who had witnessed the war, but he soon found that they had become frightened birds. Whenever the eldest princess was mentioned, their legs would tremble uncontrollably. Deng Changxiong finally gave up the idea of letting them be the vanguard.

Although they set out fifteen days in advance, the vanguard corps led by Deng Changxiong was quickly caught up by Emperor Guangde because the latter was riding on an airship.

(End of this chapter)