Great time travel

156 Chapter [-]
South Zhili, Wuhu, the banks of the Yangtze River, Dingjiazhou

The surging river beat against the blood-stained embankment, and the autumn wind blew away the lingering gunpowder smoke for many days.Looking around, countless corpses of the two armies, as well as hundreds of dilapidated warship wrecks, were ups and downs, floating and sinking on the river, and sporadic lingering smoke came out.

A big battle involving more than [-] troops and over [-] warships, both sides mobilized, has just come to an end here.

However, from the beginning of the battle to the end of the battle, the eastern and western armies only lasted less than 48 hours, and it ended with the eastern army throwing away their helmets and armor.

In fact, due to the fact that troops were divided up and left behind to sweep up places along the way, when they arrived in Wuhu, the coach of the Western Army, Lu Xiangsheng, had no more than [-] troops on hand.However, Lu Weiqi, Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War stationed in Wuhu, has [-] Eastern Army under his command.

At first glance, this battle seems to be a battle in which the Western Army is attacking more with less, and the risk is quite high, but the actual situation is completely different.

Although Lu Xiangsheng of the Western Army only raised 2 soldiers, there were more than [-] soldiers among them, and [-] iron cavalry as a killer, but they were weak in the navy.However, this battle is to attack the lower reaches of the upper reaches, not cross the south of the Yangtze River, and the marching route is all in the rich places in the south of the Yangtze River. All the food and fodder needed by the army can be collected on the spot, without relying on ships to transfer from the rear. Therefore, the navy The importance of is not so obvious.

Although Lu Weiqi of the Eastern Army had [-] soldiers, among them there were only more than [-] truly decent soldiers, and only a few hundred cavalry, and the rest were mobs recruited temporarily.Except that the Yangtze River Navy is slightly stronger than the Western Army, the rest are useless.

There is no way, after all, the actions of the Western Army were carefully planned and planned for a long time, while the Eastern Army responded hastily and were overwhelmed.

More importantly, for the Western Army, this battle is "against rebellion with righteousness" and has an absolute advantage in righteousness.

——No matter how incompetent Emperor Chongzhen was in governing the country, he was unquestionably orthodox after all. The traditional Chinese thought of loyalty to the emperor was not so easy to wear off.Although it is said that "everyone who is righteous is a generation who slaughters dogs, most of them are scholars who have a bad heart."For example, most of the scholars of the Donglin Party in the south of the Yangtze River talk about loyalty and unparalleled loyalty, but they have no loyalty in their hearts.But there are so many words about being loyal to the emperor and patriotism, and many people have even made their own letters.

After all, the Donglin Party was still touting Emperor Chongzhen as "the reincarnation of a sage" and "a sage descended from heaven" last year, but now they not only turned their faces and supported an inexplicable second son of King Lu as "Emperor Yonghe", which provoked the scolding of Zhu Ming's clan all over the world. There is a lot of noise, so far no vassal king is willing to recognize the throne of Emperor Yonghe, and now he even wants to meet Emperor Chongzhen, the "sage king".

No matter how eloquent the Donglin Party leaders in the Nanjing court hall are, how they turn black and white, they insist on describing Chongzhen's "holy king" who was full of praise not long ago as the reincarnation of the heinous devil king, but with the speed of information circulation in ancient times, in the There are still many people whose brains can't turn around.Of course, it doesn't matter even if you can't turn your head around. Anyway, the idea of ​​loyalty and patriotism these days is what it is. Soldiers who serve as soldiers will only care more about their rations and salaries.As long as they are paid enough for the army, even if they publicly say that they will raise the flag to rebel and kill the emperor, it will be fine.

But the problem is that the Donglin Party, which is in power in Nanjing, has always looked down on vulgar warriors the most, and the reward of a penny on weekdays is extremely painful, wishing that these lowly soldiers can live by drinking northwest wind all day.Where are you willing to let them eat delicious food and drink spicy food?Therefore, among the 1 Eastern Army in Wuhu, only the more than [-] direct troops of Lu Weiqi, the commander of the Ministry of War, can receive [-]% to [-]% of the military salary, and then make up for the remaining gap by plundering the villagers.As for the rest of the miscellaneous army, most of them are young men who have just been recruited, their training level and combat effectiveness are disappointing, and their weapons and equipment are like a beggar's dog-beating stick.There are also some village warriors trained by landlords and gentry, which are not bad in terms of training and combat effectiveness, but unfortunately they don't obey military orders.Not to mention the soldiers of the traditional Daming Guards, they basically degenerated into serfs early on, their weapons were generally rotten, and the logistics were in chaos. Many military households even had to prepare their own rations. Some people would starve to death after leaving the Jinling area.

Therefore, after arriving at the battlefield, Lu Weiqi didn't dare to pull the mob under him out to fight in the field, but let them stick to the camp.However, since the Western Army advanced along both sides of the Yangtze River by land and water, the Eastern Army had to set up camps and deploy defenses on both sides of the Yangtze River at the same time, further dispersing its forces.

Lu Xiangsheng, who has been on the battlefield for a long time, was keenly aware of the opponent's external strength and middle strength after a little probing, and calmly arranged a strategy to defeat the enemy. First, he pretended to attack the Eastern Army's Dingjiazhou Water Village and Jiangbei Camp with a navy to attract Lu Weiqi's attention. attention.Then gather all the soldiers and cavalry to launch a devastating general attack on the Eastern Army's Jiangnan camp. In just two hours, the Eastern Army's camp was successfully burned into a sea of ​​flames.

After learning of the defeat on the South Bank, Lu Weiqi hurriedly raised troops across the river to help, and personally stood on the deck of the ship in armor, holding a shield and holding a sword to supervise the battle, but it was too late.The Eastern Army that hastily landed was first thrown into chaos by its own rout, and then was beaten by the elite cavalry led by Lu Xiangsheng himself. Although the Western Army also mainly recruited recruits from Huguang, there were some Many veterans brought over from the northern battlefield all the way, led by the famous brave general Lu Xiangsheng at this time, deal with the underdogs in the south of the Yangtze River who can only bully the peasants who make trouble.
Therefore, under Lu Xiangsheng's sharp assault, the Nanzhili soldiers and horses led by Lu Weiqi were completely passively beaten and had no power to parry.In desperation, Lu Weiqi had no choice but to order the troops to retreat, but who knows, the retreat soon turned into a rout, until they were defeated—the tens of thousands of troops of the Eastern Army were just a temporary gathering, and it was only possible to survive until now.Once they hear the news and retreat, the morale of the army will naturally be shaken, and the next thing is to fall apart.

In the chaos, Lu Weiqi saw that nothing could be done, so he left the army alone, took a few trusted servants, and fled downstream by boat.Immediately afterwards, the abandoned Eastern Army Jiangbei Daying and Dingjiazhou Water Village also fled or surrendered one after another.

The next day, local officials from Wuhu County and the entire Taiping Prefecture came to ask for surrender one after another, and the gate leading to Jinling, the capital of Liuzhou, burst open.

The total casualties of the Western Army in this war were less than 1000, but they captured a full [-] prisoners of war and seized more than [-] shi of grain and fodder.

At this point, all the field troops of the Nanjing imperial court were wiped out, and they no longer had the power to confront the Western Army head-on.Although there is still the strong city wall of Nanjing City behind, the morale of the army and the people in Jiangnan has almost collapsed. Even if there is the city wall left by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, it is of no avail.

In short, facing the unanimous congratulations of all the generals under his command, although Lu Xiangsheng, who was blood-stained in his robes, was also full of ambition and regarded himself as "the number one hero in the recovery of Nanjing", he still pretended to be calm and coughed a few times, and encouraged the generals "... Don't be lazy, gentlemen! Although our army has won the battle of Wuhu! But there is still the dangerous pass of Dasheng Pass! There is also the high wall of Nanjing City! You have to wait until you enter Nanjing City. Then drink and celebrate with the gentlemen on the Yuhuatai!"

In this regard, the generals of the Western Army naturally agreed with a bang, and the sound shook the sky for a while, full of pride.

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Nanzhili, Jiangbei, Wuwei Prefecture, Xiang'an, Yu Family Courtyard
This is a house built of cement and red bricks. Although it does not have the luxury of carved beams and painted buildings, gold and silver inlays, nor the exquisiteness of rockery and bamboo forest pavilions, the lime powder walls and red roof tiles are still beautiful. Makes it look quite cool here.

"Young Tiger of Nothing" Yu Guozhen sat on a stone pier in the courtyard, looking at everything in the courtyard with nostalgia, stroking the mottled walls, and watching the golden leaves falling from the big trees in the courtyard. Landing in a whirl, he couldn't help but feel melancholy—every plant, tree, brick, and tile here are full of traces of his daily life over the years since he traveled.Here, he gradually got acquainted with this strange world in the late Ming Dynasty, explored the way to make money from freshwater pearl cultivation, trained a team of capable family guards, and won the victory by personally leading a team to kill bandits and water bandits. Known as the young hero of "Wu Wei Cub", he even gained a place in the circles of Donglin and Fushe.

But today, he wants to say goodbye to this land and water.And it is very likely that he will never return to this courtyard in this life.

Just as Yu Guozhen was feeling the sadness of parting quietly by himself, a confidant servant hurried in, "...Master! Master! There is news from the south! The soldiers and horses of the Liudu imperial court fought a battle in Wuhu. Great defeat! Emperor Chongzhen's rebellious army has entered the Taiping Mansion!"

"...Hmph, as expected, with Jiangnan literati who can only talk big words, sow discord, and are incompetent and shameless in doing things, it is only possible to win against a heroic general like Lu Xiangsheng on the battlefield. God is blind!"

Yu Guozhen snorted through his nostrils, "...how are the preparations for the relocation of my Yu family in Xiang'an?"

"...Master, the guards, servants and maidservants in our family, as well as the clan members who are willing to follow the master, have packed their bags and are ready to go on the road. But there are still many elders in the clan who are reluctant to part with the ancestral graves and ancestral halls, and refuse to move. Even if No matter how much the patriarch persuades, it is useless."

The young servant replied with a bitter face, "...the people in their room said... they all said that you are worrying, young master, and that the Yu family has taken root in Xiang'an for hundreds of years, and they have never seen such a big storm. Why? You can leave your hometown, and you won’t be able to enter your ancestor’s grave after death... In short, it’s extremely ugly."

"... Worrying? Hehe! How long do they think this Xiang'an can continue to be peaceful?" Yu Guozhen was immediately annoyed, "... Zhang Xianzhong's bandits are still entrenched in the capital city of Luzhou, and Dorgon's officialdom is stationed in Fengyang. The White Flag Tatars, the incense altars of the Wenxiang Sect have all opened to the south bank of Chaohu Lake! There are also 10,000+ soldiers and horses of the two Ming emperors who just fought a battle in the Taiping Mansion in the south! There will definitely be a rout in a few days Come here, burn, kill, and loot! The chaotic world has arrived, and no one can stop it! If you don’t leave, don’t you have to wait for death?”

"...Since that's the case, how about...young master, can you persuade me again?" the boy asked tentatively.

"...No need, the sky is going to rain, and my mother is going to get married. Since everyone has their own aspirations, let them go!"

Yu Guozhen patted the dust on his clothes, stood up, and walked out the door without looking back, "...Let's go! Let's set off for Qiongzhou now!"

——However, a traveler like Yu Guozhen who can predict the general trend of the future can certainly cut off his wrists, abandon the industrial house of his hometown, and choose to relocate with his family.But even more aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River, in the face of the imminent disaster, are desperately struggling...