The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 359

The next day, bursts of birdsong entered the Wangfu study.

When Zhu Linmei was awakened by the maid Huiqiu, a ray of light first appeared in the sky.

"What time is it?"

"Back to Your Highness, it's almost time."

Huiqiu brought two maidservants to help him change into the dragon robe, and told him about the "Autumn Club" that the Queen Mother was about to run.

He responded casually and hurried out of the mansion, but he didn't even have time to eat breakfast, he only took a pack of snacks from the servant, and boarded the carriage that Shi Lin had already prepared in front of the palace.

As soon as the car drove two miles away, Zhu Linming saw more than a dozen horsemen galloping past in a short distance. The leader was dressed in a dark green military uniform, and looked quite like Yu Xin.

He hastily ordered Shi Lin to call the group of people to stop, when they approached, it turned out to be Yu Xin.

The latter hurriedly got off his horse and saluted, "My lord, forgive me, I encountered heavy rains all the way, and the road was difficult to walk. I only entered Tianxing Mansion this morning. I wanted to go directly to Wenhua Palace..."

"Chuangzhi has worked hard all the way, so he must not have had breakfast yet." Zhu Linmi pulled him into his car, pointed to the snacks on the small table, and said, "Come and eat something casually with me."

"Thank you sir."

Zhu Linming knocked on the carriage and ordered the driver to continue on the journey, then looked at Yu Xin and said, "We still have to walk for a while, so please tell us about the recent situation of the Ministry of War."

Yu Xin put down the food in his hand, cupped his hands solemnly and said, "My lord, everything in the Ministry of War is done according to your orders, and there is nothing wrong with it. But there is one important matter that needs to be reported to you first."

"Oh? What's the matter?"

Yu Xindao: "When my subordinates passed through Minqing County yesterday, they saw the report sent to the Ministry of War, saying that the captive Hong Chengchou sent the puppet Zhenjiang general Ma Degong, Yang Chengzu, Hu Maozhen and others to lead an army of [-] to the south of Qiantang. Right now, we are attacking Xiaoshan fiercely."

The Qing army has gone south?Zhu Linmei was also a little surprised when she heard the words. The action of Jianlu this time was really fast enough, which shows that the Qing court attached great importance to the southeast front.

You must know that Jianlu's old-style army is no better than the Dragon Guards, which are small but sophisticated and have received modern military training.They have a large number of soldiers, and their mobilization efficiency is extremely low. If they want to mobilize [-] to [-] troops, it will take at least three or four months to prepare food, grass and supplies. It's a month later.

Historically, the combat rhythm of Jianlu basically followed this rule.Even when the wind is going smoothly and the winning streak is smooth, the interval between two large-scale deployments is at least half a year.

Just like in the first year of Longwu, Azig's army "pacified" Henan, Huguang, and Jiangxi and then returned to Beijing for repairs. After another year, Boluo led his troops to attack Fujing again.

And this summer, Boluo's 7 troops were just wiped out by the Dragon Guards. Less than four months later, Hong Chengchou gathered more than [-] troops and even took the initiative to attack Zhejiang.This was achieved when Boluo mobilized all the soldiers, horses, food and grass near Nanzhili during the "Conquest of the South". It can be called a miraculous efficiency.

Of course, behind this "miracle", there must be a large number of Han people who were used as hard labor, tortured and even killed in the process of preparing for war.

It can be seen from this that after the defeat of Boluo, Dorgon has begun to face up to the strength of Ming Dynasty.This careful preparation for the battle is to prepare for a desperate battle with Daming on the line from South Zhili to Zhejiang.

Zhu Linmi couldn't help frowning. At the beginning of the year, it was because King Lu's Qiantang garrison was about to collapse, so that Jianlu easily captured Zhejiang. This time there was no guarantee that Zhejiang would not be lost to him again.

And I don't want to fight a civil war with the King of Lu, so that Jianlu can benefit. At present, unless the King of Lu takes the initiative to ask Tai Zheng for help, I can only do it in a hurry.

He then asked Yu Xin, "How is the battle at Xiaoshan?"

"My lord, there are more than 3 Zhe soldiers in Xiaoshan, and Fang Guoan is leading nearly [-] troops to reinforce them."

Zhu Linming wondered: "These seven thousand Zhejiang troops have some fighting power."

Yu Xin nodded and said: "This is something that Jianlu didn't expect. When Fang Guoan surrendered in the early days, Boluo organized his Zhejiang army into a green battalion. According to the usual practice, only [-] strong and old people were sent out. Give weapons and practice them strictly to greatly increase their combat effectiveness.

"Rear Guoan returned to Daming, so they used this army to divide Qiantang. Although the number of soldiers and horses has been reduced from more than [-] to [-], they are not defeated as quickly as before.

"Zhang Huangyan's troops who are now defending Xiaoshan were selected from this group, and they are indeed the elite of the Zhejiang Army's elite."

It turned out that a military genius like Zhang Cangshui was guarding Xiaoshan.In history, when Zheng Chenggong made a northern expedition to Nanjing, Zhang Huangyan cooperated with the army to attack Huizhou and Dingguo in the west.Relying on only more than 24 men under his command, he defeated the Qing army in a few months, conquered four prefectures, three prefectures, and [-] counties, and defeated Jianlu with fear.

Zhu Linmei nodded secretly, with Zhang Huangyan leading the army and the troops trained by Jianlu, it's no wonder that Xiaoshan City was not captured by the army.

Yu Xin continued: "Besides, the thieves know that I have broken the barracks with [-] elite soldiers stationed in Quzhou, so they must always divide their troops for preparation, and cannot attack the city with all their strength."

Quzhou is only more than 300 miles away from Xiaoshan. With the marching speed of Poluying, they can rush to help the battle in a few days.Hong Chengchou didn't know what the relationship between Lu Wang and Tai Zhengchao was now, so he had to be careful to send troops to guard against it at all times.

Although Xiaoshan can be held for the time being, Zhu Linmi saw the danger and frowned and said, "The prisoners who are waiting to build food, grass, and supplies are stockpiling along the banks of Qiantang, and they will continue to increase their troops in Xiaoshan. It can be as little as half a month, as much as [-] days, ten days at most." Tens of thousands of captive troops have crossed south of Qiantang. No matter how capable Zhang Huangyan is at that time, the disparity between the few and the few will not last long."

Yu Xin also worried: "Your Excellency's words are very true. If Xiaoshan's gate is lost, Shaoxing will be destroyed sooner or later, and Zhejiang may fall into the hands of thieves again."

The two were discussing the military situation when Shi Lin reminded him outside the car: "My lord, we have arrived at the Meridian Gate."

Yu Xinyan made a quick accusation, got out of the carriage and walked towards the Wenhua Palace by himself.

When the eunuch in charge blew his whip, all the civil and military officials of the court lined up in front of the hall, knelt down on the mountain together and shouted, "I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Assistant King."

"My lords, please rise up."

After the courtiers stood up, they first praised His Royal Highness the Assistant King for his great victory in the Western Expedition as usual, and they did not hesitate to say such words as "great achievements in the world", "the momentum of Zhongxing has been shown", and "the resurrection of Duke Zhou".

After almost everyone said a few words, the scene gradually returned to calm, and only then did the formal discussion begin.

First, He Kai, Shangshu of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, was the first to hold the wat out of the class, and said in a passionate tone: "Your Highness, I heard that the Eastern Captives gathered 14 troops in Nanjing and wanted to commit crimes in the South again. Now their vanguard has arrived at Xiaoshan, and the Shaoxing Mansion will be destroyed soon. .

"The officials thought that with the strength of the Zhe Fan, there was no way to protect themselves. The imperial court should quickly deploy a large army to Quzhou to deploy defenses. When the captives arrive, they will defend them with a strong city!"

Zhu Lin thought in her heart, it seems that the military situation in Zhejiang has spread, and these courtiers are well informed.

He Kai hadn't finished speaking when he saw a person stepping forward and said loudly: "Master He's words are false! The rebel army is sharp and sharp, and Quzhou is surrounded by danger, so it is very difficult to hold on."

(End of this chapter)