Sweep Yuan

Chapter 112 Dong Tuanxiao, the Vanguard in Suppressing the Rebellion

"Report! The vanguard cavalry of the rebel army has been dispatched, numbering about five hundred men, and is still thirty li away from Dingyuan."

Northwest of Dingyuan City, the Yuan army camp.

Just as the scout finished reporting the military situation, a scream rang out from inside the tent.

"How could they have arrived so quickly!"

"Where did the rebel army get so many cavalry?"

"What can we do!"

Clang!
Amidst the commotion, a burly man in armor suddenly drew his sword, glared at the crowd in the tent, and roared:

"The central command tent is a place of great military importance. Anyone who dares to make noise in the tent again will be executed!"

The militia commanders and captains who participated in today's military meeting had never seen such a scene before. They were immediately intimidated by its power and fell silent, no one daring to utter a sound.

"Why are you drawing your sword? Step back!"

Dong Tuanxiao, the chief administrator of Jining Road, sat comfortably in the main seat of the tent, dismissed his subordinate Yu Sizhong, but did not reprimand the latter for speaking out against military regulations.

Dong Tuanxiao entered the Shaanxi Provincial Government as a student of the Imperial Academy, and later served as the Left and Right Assistant Director of the Jiangxi Provincial Government. He was then promoted to the position of Deputy Commissioner of the Eastern Zhejiang Provincial Government. Due to his military achievements, he was promoted to his current position. He had accumulated great prestige, and when he looked at the local tyrants of Dingyuan, none of them dared to meet his gaze.

"What is the enemy's equipment like? Are they marching on horseback?"

While equipment alone cannot determine whether an army is elite, it is not difficult to judge whether it is a rabble. The performance of cavalry on the march is an important reference for measuring their training level and tactical awareness.

This scout was a seasoned veteran and clearly understood what Steward Dong wanted to know, and his answer was very organized.

“We hid on Mount Moye beforehand. We were far away and could only vaguely see that the enemy army was not on horseback and we could not see their equipment. We sent out scouts to control the main roads and investigate the movements on the mountain.

Fearing we'd be intercepted by the bandits and miss our mission, we quickly turned back. We don't know the details of the bandit cavalry, but their scouts were all mounted on two horses, wore round-armored armor, and were equipped with crossbows—they were quite troublesome.

Moye Mountain (later renamed Fengyang Mountain) is located more than 50 li northwest of Dingyuan. It is a high mountain with dense forests and is close to the official road, making it an excellent ambush location.

During yesterday's military meeting, Dong Tuanxiao's younger brother, Dong Angxiao, proposed setting up an ambush at Fengyang Mountain to kill the reinforcements from Haozhou.

Dong Tuanxiao rejected the proposal, arguing that the location was too close to Haozhou, and that although the Dingyuan militia was large, it was a motley crew, and setting up an ambush might backfire.

Now it seems his concerns were justified. The urgent report of Dingyuan being besieged had just reached Haozhou when the rebel army immediately dispatched reinforcements. If they had listened to Angxiao's advice, the ambushers would have encountered the rebel army halfway there, and the consequences would have been unimaginable.

The bandits of Haozhou reacted so quickly, yet marched so cautiously, unlike the bandits who had just started their rebellion. Dong Tuanxiao's pupils constricted slightly, but his expression remained calm. He asked a few more questions, dismissed the scouts, stood up, looked around at everyone, and said in a deep voice:
"The bandits of Haozhou are cautious in their actions, and they resemble the bandits of Dinglin by seven-tenths. It is time for our army to achieve further merit. All you need to do is guard your camp and obey my orders. We will surely wipe out the bandits and report the victory to the Emperor!"

Steward Dong's voice wasn't loud, but it seemed to have boundless magic. Everyone felt reassured upon hearing it, as if defeating the enemy was just around the corner.

"How dare I disobey your orders, sir!"

Dong Tuanxiao's ability to look down on the Red Turban Army was based on his own strength.

After rebels such as Du Zundao and Liu Futong started their rebellion in Yingshang, they fled westward. The government troops pursued them relentlessly, leaving their rear forces vulnerable. Not long after, people in Zhugao Town, Liu Futong's hometown, took the opportunity to start a rebellion.

With the government troops unable to divide their forces to suppress the rebellion, Zhu Gao's rebels quickly grew in size, successively occupying the three counties of Gushi (Runing Prefecture), Huoqiu (Anfeng Road), and Anfeng (Anfeng Road), gradually forming a coordinated force with Liu Futong from the east and west.

The Yuan court urgently dispatched the Pingzhang Zhengshi Jiaohua (a member of the Tangwuxili clan and the son of Ailu, the Right Vice Minister of Yunnan Province) of Jiangzhe Province to Huaixi to quell the rebellion. Dong Tuanxiao, who was then the Deputy Envoy of the Eastern Zhejiang Province, was also dispatched.

At that time, news of the uprising in Qizhou by Xu Shouhui and Zou Pusheng had spread, and the followers of the Southern Branch of the White Lotus Sect in Huaixi rose up in response. Among them, Li Pusheng occupied Wuwei and Zhao Pusheng occupied Hanshan, both claiming to be "the family of Peng Zu".

At the height of their power, the Huaixi rebels besieged important towns such as Lujiang and Luzhou. After being repelled by government troops, they scattered to various places, but instead took more people with them, occupied key points, and waited for an opportunity to continue attacking and seizing territory. As a result, the situation in Huaixi deteriorated greatly.

The troops from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, led by the Jiaohua Commandery, were already weak, with a total strength of less than three thousand. After arriving in Shucheng, they dared not advance any further.

Dong Tuanxiao was appointed to a critical mission and led only 500 men north to recruit 1,200 soldiers to cultivate land in Shaopi (within Shouxian County, Anfeng Road) and more than 800 archers from the surrounding mountains, and rigorously trained them.

Subsequently, he marched westward to Guang Prefecture (Gushi was one of its counties), and within a little over a month, he quelled the rebellions in Gushi, Huoqiu, and Anfeng counties.

According to the confession of the surrendered bandits in Anfeng, the "Peng Zu Family" bandit army has invited heroes from all over the country to join in a great cause. They have gathered tens of thousands of people and are stationed south of Dinglin Station, intending to besiege Hefei.

Hefei is the seat of Luzhou Circuit. If it is occupied by the rebel army, Anfeng, Yangzhou, Taiping and other circuits will not be at peace.

Dong Tuanxiao, disregarding his exhaustion from the previous battles, quickly led his troops south. Upon arriving in Hefei, he worked through the night to build a pontoon bridge and cross the Fei River. By the time the rebel army realized what was happening, their retreat had already been blocked by government troops, and they had to quickly defend their position in the ravine.

At that time, the rebel army numbered in the tens of thousands, with camps stretching for miles, and their momentum was overwhelming. In order to reach Hefei as soon as possible, Dong Tuanxiao carefully selected his troops, and his forces numbered less than 4,000 (his forces had expanded to nearly 10,000 after he recruited and accepted defectors during the suppression of the rebellion in three counties). The disparity in troop strength between the two sides was enormous.

Dong Tuanxiao led his infantry to confront the rebel army across the ravine, while sending his cavalry to cross the river at a shallow shoal to attack the rebels. Taking advantage of the rebels' division of forces to fight the cavalry, he leaped across the river on horseback and shouted, "The rebel army has been defeated!"

The "Peng Zu Family" was composed of multiple rebel armies, which were already disorganized. Under the dim light of the new moon, it was difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood. They only saw a part of their own troops carrying torches and quickly moving away (to intercept the government cavalry), and thought they had really been defeated, so they collapsed.

Taking advantage of the situation, Dong Tuanxiao led his troops in a surprise attack. The rebel army panicked and fell into the icy river, where countless people drowned. The Fei River stopped flowing for three days, and the floating corpses blocked the river. The reeds on both banks were dyed ochre, and crows covered the sky for months.

In this battle, six thousand were beheaded, and those captured alive had their ears cut off and were driven back to their hometowns to be strictly guarded.

After this battle, wherever General Dong's banner went, the children of Huaixi would stop crying at night.

The Battle of Dinglin was a victory of the few over the many, and the skillful use of the enemy's large and disorganized forces to launch a psychological offensive almost perfectly replicated the Battle of Feishui a thousand years ago, making it a legendary battle.

Since the rebellion of Du Zundao and Liu Futong, the government army had suffered repeated defeats and lost countless soldiers and generals, and desperately needed a resounding victory to boost morale. First, Prince Zong Shenbao recaptured Suining and Hongxian, and then Dong Tuanxiao pacified four counties and killed tens of thousands of enemies. The news of the victory in Dadu was flying around day and night. Shenbao was awarded a gold belt and Dong Tuanxiao was appointed as the general manager of Jining Road.

After months of continuous fighting, Dong Tuanxiao's troops were exhausted. After the Battle of Dinglin, most of them stayed in Hefei to rest and reorganize, while the garrison went out of the city to wipe out the remaining bandits. Dong Tuanxiao personally led more than a thousand elite troops to pursue the routed army that had fled into Anfeng Road.

At this time, the Red Turban Army in Qizhou had grown powerful and crossed the Yangtze River to attack Wuchang Road. Due to the "destruction of cities" order, all the cities in Jiangnan had cities but no defenses. Once the rebel army captured Wuchang Road, they could quickly advance down the river and enter the territory of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province.

The imperial court has issued an edict ordering the swift pacification of the bandits in Huaixi and the return of troops to guard the Jiangnan region.

Time was of the essence. Dong Tuanxiao originally intended to deal with the remaining enemies before reorganizing his troops to advance on Hanshan and Wuwei, and completely wipe out the bandits in Luzhou Road, thus achieving a complete victory.

Unexpectedly, just as they were annihilating the fleeing bandits on the banks of the Chi River, they were shocked to learn that the cities of Haozhou and Dingyuan had simultaneously fallen into the hands of the bandits.

At this point, Dong Tuanxiao had two choices.

First, we must immediately return to Hefei and seize the time to quell the bandits on Luzhou Road.

If the Red Turban Army's offensive in Qizhou is contained and there is no threat of banditry in the Jiangzhe Province, then the army will continue to march north to pacify Dingyuan and take Haozhou; if the situation in Jiangnan becomes critical, then the army will have to return to Jiangzhe first and temporarily ignore the bandits in Anfeng Road.

Secondly, continue northward, take advantage of the chaos caused by the rebels' recent uprising, recapture Dingyuan, and block the rebel army's southward advance.

Both options have their advantages and disadvantages.

The former takes a steady and methodical approach; even if it doesn't achieve a major victory, it won't suffer a major defeat either.

However, the rebels in Hanshan and Wuwei have been stirring up trouble for a long time and have gradually gained a foothold, making them difficult to eliminate easily. By the time these two places are pacified, the rebels in Haozhou and Dingyuan may have already grown too powerful and become difficult to deal with.

More likely, the banditry in Hanshan and Wuwei had not yet been quelled, while the bandits in Qizhou had already moved downstream. The imperial court urgently recalled Pingzhang to the Jiangzhe Province, at which time he would have to return to his town with Jiaohua.

The latter carries the risk of being reckless and adventurous; if they win, it will be a great victory, but if they lose, it seems unlikely that they will suffer a major defeat.

The advantage is that the rebels in Haozhou and Dingyuan have just started their uprising, which is the most chaotic time, and the lost territory can be recovered at the lowest cost and fastest speed.

If it were someone else, they would most likely choose the former for the sake of safety, after all, the Yuan Dynasty has a vast territory and many rebels, who would dare to claim that they can conquer the whole world?

However, Dong Tuanxiao had won many battles since he began leading his troops, and had long established his prestige and confidence. Now that he was less than a hundred miles from Dingyuan, how could he miss the best opportunity to wipe out the bandits of Anfeng Road in one fell swoop?
The rebellion in Dingyuan was indeed not difficult to quell.

After Guo Zixing, Sun Deyan and others occupied Dingyuan, they expanded their troops at will. When the city's food supplies were insufficient, they set their sights on the countryside. The landlords in the villages and communities could not bear the harassment and formed strongholds to protect themselves.

Dong Tuanxiao easily ascertained the true situation in Dingyuan City and immediately devised a plan: he sent his fierce general Yu Sizhong with four hundred men to disguise themselves as pursued bandits from Dinglin and run directly to the city walls to request protection.

The rebel army is disorganized and prone to blind expansion, recruiting people without distinguishing between good and bad, making this strategy highly likely to succeed.

At a different time, Dong Tuanxiao might have actually succeeded.

At that time, Guo Xing had already been ordered by Shi Shan to escort Zhang Tianyou and Shao Rong back to Dingyuan City, and brought with him the conditions for the two armies to join forces as proposed by Marshal Shi: unified command.

Haozhou was the main territory, and Dingyuan was the subordinate territory. Anfeng Road could only have one Red Turban Army Marshal, Shishan, and no one else could overstep his authority.

Dingyuan also needs to unify its commands and establish the Red Turban Army Ten Thousand Household Office. The specific official positions will be negotiated by the leaders themselves and then reported to the Haozhou Marshal's Office for approval.

Although it was said to be a self-determination, Shishan detained the four close associates of Sun, Lu, Yu, and Pan, and sent troops to escort Zhang Tianyou and Shao Rong back. This was no longer an implication, but a blatant declaration.

Since occupying Dingyuan, Guo, Sun and other leaders have been constantly fighting amongst themselves, which has caused everything to go wrong. They are all exhausted and worried about the government troops coming to suppress them. They all hope to determine a winner as soon as possible.

Sun Deyan, with the combined strength of the Lu, Yu, and Pan families, was only able to barely hold his own against Guo Zixing. Now, with the addition of Shi Shan, a powerful figure who has taken sides and blatantly detained his own younger brother, he has lost the courage to continue the fight.

Guo Zixing successfully took the position of commander of ten thousand households and was finally able to listen to Shao Rong's advice. He offered the positions of deputy commander of ten thousand households and garrison commander to Sun, Lu, Yu and Pan to compete for, which easily dismantled the four-man alliance.

When Yu Sizhong led his men to the city of Dingyuan, the city was reorganizing its troops. To prevent any unrest during the reorganization, Guo Zixing took back all the guards at the four gates that originally belonged to various departments and replaced them with his own men.

A few days earlier, Guo and Sun were locked in a fierce battle, both willing to bring in outsiders to increase the variables; later, Guo Zixing had completely taken control of Dingyuan and wouldn't mind heroes bringing their troops to surrender.

It was precisely at this time, when they had just consolidated their military power and had not yet fully controlled the situation, that no one wanted to cause any trouble. Guo Zixing immediately rejected Yu Sizhong's request to enter the city and suggested that his troops quickly go to Haozhou to deliver the message to Marshal Shi.

Dingyuan at least had city walls and several thousand soldiers inside. Yu Sizhong failed to raid the city and could only return disappointed.

Dong Tuanxiao did not punish Yu Sizhong for his poor performance. He always made multiple preparations. When his plan to take the city failed, he immediately sent his subordinates to spread his orders and summon the local tyrants of Dingyuan to come and serve the royal army.

Those who refuse to obey orders will be considered traitors!

The powerful families of Dingyuan have never been fond of the Guo family, an outsider. They had previously suffered from their misfortunes and could only defend themselves by forming strongholds. Now that the invincible General Dong is personally leading troops to attack them, why not take this opportunity to strike hard and beat them while they are down?
Within two days, wealthy families such as Miao Daheng and Feng Guosheng led their local militias to join them, some numbering three or four thousand, others two or three hundred, bringing the total to nearly twelve thousand men.

With such a massive force, let alone conquering the small town of Dingyuan, they could easily wipe out Haozhou.

Of course, although the local militia were numerous, they were just a rabble without proper training. They were only good for boosting morale and exhausting the enemy's strength. Don't expect these people to be able to take on any tough opponents. This battle still requires the main government troops to attack.

……

P.S.: Regarding updates, the latest update is over 7000, which is beyond my limits.

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(End of this chapter)