One hundred thousand elite troops launched a blitzkrieg against the Ming Dynasty in three directions: south, north, and west. The advance was so fast that the soldiers and civilians in Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Shaanxi and other places had no time to react.
Take the Southern Route Army led by Wan Lei as an example. In just two days, 30,000 troops crossed the Yellow River and arrived at the foot of Jinan City, where the Chief Envoy of Shandong Province is located. Thousands of defenders in the city were still there. Before they could react, the Beiping Army disguised as Ming troops occupied the city gate. After a melee, Jinan City was captured.
Since Shandong had just experienced a rebellion by the Korean army, and the entire Shandong Peninsula was empty, the Peking Army only left a few thousand troops to garrison in Jinan. The army continued to move south rapidly, passing through Gunzhou Prefecture, and on April 15th, the Peking Army began to Arrive at Xuzhou City.
Xuzhou is the gateway to East China. Occupying Xuzhou will open the northern gate to Fengyang, Huai'an, Yangzhou, Luzhou and other prefectures. At the same time, Xuzhou is also the north port of the canal. Most of the military rations transported northward through the river in the Ming Dynasty were stored here. , occupying Xuzhou means taking away the jobs of the Ming army in the north.
Precisely because Xuzhou is the northern throat of the canal, there are 40,000 defenders left in the city, and there is also a general in charge. This man is Sheng Yong. He has learned from some landlords and bureaucrats who fled south that the Peking Army is marching south. , so soldiers were arranged day and night to reinforce the city and practice tactics in preparation for war.
It was because of Sheng Yong's resistance that the Peking Army, which was advancing unimpeded, was blocked outside Xuzhou City. The vanguard force was unable to successfully break through the city defenses for a while and could only wait for the follow-up army to arrive. The vanguard force only waited for two days, on April 17th. , the main force led by Wan Lei also arrived outside Xuzhou City.
The reason why Wan Lei arrived two days late was because he wanted to appease the people in Shandong. You know, the security in the newly occupied areas is generally poor. Although the Peking Army did not kill many people and was more popular, some lawless people would Taking advantage of the chaos of war, people fall into disgrace and plunder the people. If they are not deterred, they will leave behind worries.
However, the Peiping Army only has 100,000 troops. Even if they are all used to maintain stability, they will not be able to control much of the area, and it will seriously affect the speed of the advance. Therefore, when the regular Peking Army goes out, there are more than 300,000 militiamen in Peiping City. Divided into three groups, they then coordinated and were responsible for maintaining law and order. Wan Lei had to wait for the militia to arrive and take over the defense before leading the main force to continue southward.
"Sir, Sheng Yong is in charge of Xuzhou. He has 30,000 people. Including the temporarily requisitioned people, the total number is up to 60,000. This guy doesn't understand current affairs and refuses to listen to repeated attempts to persuade him to surrender. He also says that he would rather be a piece of jade. If you don't want to be safe, you have to live and die with the city." Li Chengkun, commander of the Pioneer Army, said angrily.
"If he wants to defend the city, let him defend it. Dedicate 10,000 troops and watch outside the city. The rest will bypass Xuzhou and raid Fengyang. I don't believe it. We have occupied the Zhu family's ancestral mausoleum. How can they do it? Sit still." Wan Lei said calmly.
"Sir, this plan is brilliant, and my subordinates also have this idea. Geng Xuan's troops are tens of thousands in the area of Yangzhou. We are entering Fengyang, the capital of the Ming Dynasty. They dare not just sit back and watch. When the time comes, we will annihilate them in one fell swoop, and the two Huaihe Rivers will be destroyed." No obstacles at all." Li Chengkun smiled.
It has to be said that Zhu Yuanzhang was a man with a strong sense of small farmers and a strong sense of ruralism. After he succeeded to the throne and became emperor, he not only awarded three generations of titles, but also built luxurious imperial mausoleums for his father and ancestors, and even built a mausoleum in his hometown of Fengyang. The extremely luxurious capital is Zhongdu.
Originally, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to move the capital to Fengyang, but due to various reasons, it was not realized in the end. Zhongdu is the location of the Zhu family's ancestral tomb, and its status is still very important. If Zhongdu is occupied and the ancestral tomb is dug up, Emperor Jianwen will have to vomit blood. .
Wan Lei also saw this clearly and led his troops south to Fengyang, using Zhongdu as a point to encircle and mobilize reinforcements. Emperor Jianwen would not ignore Zhongdu and would definitely order to guard Xuzhou and The Ming army from Yangzhou comes to the rescue. When the time comes, the Peiping army will be able to defeat the resistance along the Huaihe River in one fell swoop.
He did what he said. On the night of April 17, Wan Lei left an army of 10,000 people to serve as suspects outside Xuzhou City. He personally led 20,000 troops around Xuzhou and approached Zhongdu at night. In fact, the Peking Army was running around for days. , are also a little tired, but these are men who have been fighting for a long time, and the march speed of this strength is just a drizzle for them.
Just when Wan Lei was planning a big plan to encircle the point and mobilize reinforcements, the West Route Army led by Zhao Quanjie also marched unimpeded. He even defeated Shunde, Kaifeng, Henan and other prefectures, occupied most of Shanxi and Henan, and directed his troops towards Huguang.
Not to be outdone, Zhou Tianshou's troops went south from Datong Road in Shanxi Province, conquered Datong, captured Taiyuan, went down to Pingyang, crossed the river into Yan'an, and even captured Qingyang, Pingliang and other prefectures. Now they are stationed at the foot of Xi'an City.
Since Xi'an was the ancient capital of the Han and Tang Dynasties, the city was expanded after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. The city was high and the walls were thick, so it was difficult to conquer for a while. Zhou Tianshou sent people to persuade him to surrender while waiting for the follow-up artillery troops. Once the artillery arrived, the thick walls The city wall could only be blown open, so he was not in a hurry.
The three armies all achieved the predetermined results in advance. The good news spread quickly, and the soldiers and civilians in the North Parallel Province were very happy. Many people spontaneously joined the militia and went out with the army to serve as backup.
Reports of military successes in Peking came one after another, but urgent reports of defeat and requests for help from the Ming court were flying like snowflakes. However, the eastern section of the Yangtze River was already occupied by the First Fleet, and the Ming Dynasty was unable to send troops northward to support it, and even the delivery of military reports was difficult. Because of the delay due to the detour, the imperial court often just received the military report asking for help, and before it had time to send troops, it received the military report of defeat. In short, there was no emergency plan.
Of course, the Ming court was not completely inactive. As soon as Emperor Jianwen received information about the large-scale invasion of the south by the Peking Army, he followed Fang Xiaoru's suggestion and issued an edict calling on the people of the world to be diligent in the king's affairs. However, few people in the south and north of the Yangtze River responded. Many people in the north responded. Even before the Peking Army arrived, they opened the city and asked for surrender.
In fact, this cannot just be blamed on the Ming court's unpopularity. It is actually because the Peiping Army did a good job in pre-war propaganda. As the saying goes, public opinion precedes the arrival of troops. At the beginning of the year, Wan Lei ordered the Jingzhong Guards to be sent out in all directions, and created a lot of public opinion to push the Peking Army to the north. The students in the province boast that it is like heaven and the Ming Dynasty is like hell. The common people just want to live a good life. Who can talk about loyalty to the Ming Dynasty?
In addition to focusing on winning the hearts and minds of ordinary people, Wan Lei did not kill the rich and give to the poor like other bandits. He even issued the "Three Chapters of the Covenant". Not only did he not take anything from the people, he also did not attack the landlords and rich people. Those Ming Dynasty officials who surrendered Shi still used it correctly, but he just found some bullies who had done evil and had too much resentment among the people and killed them to inflate the anger of the people.
In this way, no matter the common people or the landlords and gentry, they did not resist the Peking Army. Those local officials who were frustrated even welcomed the Peiping Army without any hesitation. Those who really fought for the death of the Ming Dynasty, except for those from various places Apart from the nobles and nobles of the vassal, there are only some rotten scholars left. These little miscellaneous fish cannot stop the rolling torrent of the Peking Army.
Of course, the Peiping Army would not be polite to the vassal king surnamed Zhu. There were several vassal kings who were entrusted to the north, including King Qin, King Zhou, King Su, etc. These guys usually resisted to the death. As soon as the Peiping Army broke through the palace, they were captured and killed. The proceeds from the confiscation of the houses were distributed to the nearby people, and these relatives of the emperor were imprisoned and later transported overseas to be exiled.
For a time, there was a craze for killing kings in various parts of the north, and everyone cheered. After all, the Ming Dynasty clan made a living by sucking people's fat and anointing, and they did not know how to behave and often brought disaster to the place. It was really unpopular. The lives of ordinary people were already poor. , naturally hates the rich, especially these guys who are unkind for the sake of wealth. Killing them will be very satisfying.
The place was occupied and the clan was killed. Emperor Jianwen was angry and impatient. He held court every morning, noon and evening, either cursing the Peiping army for being sinister and evil, or scolding the courtiers for being mediocre and incompetent. None of the courtiers dared to say a word. From Peiping It has been more than ten days since the army massively expanded its forces, and the court still cannot come up with a practical plan to defend against the enemy.
On April 19th, more violent news came from Jiangbei. A section of the Peiping Army had reached Fengyang. All the magistrates of Fengyang Prefecture and below had surrendered. Si Zheng, who was left in Zhongdu, was left in charge of Tang Li and Fengyang Guards. Tens of thousands of soldiers from the Yangzhong Guard, Fengyang Right Guard, Huangling Guard, Left Guard, Left Guard and Central Guard surrendered.
Tang Li was the son of Tang He, Duke of Xin. Because he failed to seize the throne and was not reused, he naturally had little affection for the Ming Dynasty. As soon as the Peking Army arrived, he led his troops to open the gates of the Central Capital and surrendered. This This saved Wan Lei a lot of things. He directly led his troops to Zhongdu and waited for the Ming army to come to rescue Zhongdu.
When news of the fall of Zhongdu spread, Sheng Yong was the most anxious. Because the Peking Army passed through Xuzhou, he, as the garrison of Xuzhou, was naturally to blame. If Zhongdu was recaptured, and if the Zhu family's ancestral tomb was lost, Even if he defended Xuzhou, he was still a guilty minister and would never be able to survive in the Ming Dynasty in this life, so he left Xuzhou City with 40,000 Ming troops without saying a word and rushed to rescue Zhongdu.
It wasn't just Sheng Yong who was in a hurry, Geng Xuan was also panicking. As the general and commander of the Northern Army, he not only failed to wipe out the Peiping Army, but was also chased after him and swept away. He was also to blame. Although he was ordered to return to the capital by King Qin, he was sitting back and watching the fall of Zhongdu without saving him. Even if they were investigated afterwards, he would not be able to escape easily.
I was rushing back from Beipingxing Province in a hurry, and now I have to rush back from Yangzhou to Zhongdu for rescue. I have been rushing back and forth for more than ten days and two thousand days. Even an elite soldier will be exhausted. There are many soldiers. There were complaints and morale plummeted.
However, whether or not Zhongdu can be retaken is a matter of ability; whether to go to the rescue or not is a matter of attitude. Although Geng Xuan is the brother-in-law of Emperor Jianwen, he does not dare to passively avoid the battle. He knows that there is a high risk of death. If he couldn't succeed, he had to bite the bullet and save it. There was no way, because it was Zhongdu. Compared with the Zhu family's ancestral tomb, hundreds of thousands of troops filling it were nothing. Even he, a relative of the emperor, was nothing. .