On October 18, the news that Zhejiang separated from the Ming Dynasty and merged with the Republic of China reached Jinling. At this time, Emperor Jianwen became furious and ordered Geng Xuan to march eastward with 100,000 Beijing troops to suppress Zhejiang by force.
In fact, people in Zhejiang have extremely complicated feelings towards the Ming Dynasty, because more than thirty years ago, Zhejiang supported Zhang Shicheng and resisted Zhu Yuanzhang. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, out of revenge, Zhejiang has been subjected to Heavy taxation and exploitation made the people unbearable.
After Emperor Jianwen came to the throne, he relatively reduced the heavy taxes in Zhejiang. Logically speaking, this should win some people's hearts. However, since the people of Zhejiang learned that the Republic of China never collected land taxes, they saw the true face of the Ming Dynasty. Small favors could no longer be used to buy them off, and the old grudges that had accumulated for more than thirty years erupted suddenly. This was one of the reasons why Zhejiang abandoned Ming Dynasty and joined China in the first place.
Facing the 100,000 troops sent by the Ming Dynasty, Zhejiang Province was naturally unable to resist, so he immediately sent a distress letter to Peiping. As the new leader of Zhejiang Province, Wan Lei certainly would not ignore death. With an order, he The Peiping Army that was stationed in the Jiangnan area was mobilized, and more than a dozen Xia-class warships were assembled on the Yangtze River, ready to take Jinling directly to drain the cauldron.
Of course, Wan Lei would not be the one to fire the first shot. While he ordered the Peking Army troops to suppress the border, he issued an armistice statement and repeatedly stated that Zhejiang's joining the Republic of China was in compliance with God's will and the people's will, and it was also the choice of the Zhejiang people. Please The Ming Dynasty did not want to interfere. It repeatedly stated that as long as the Ming Dynasty did not send troops to Zhejiang, the Republic of China was willing to forgive the 7.5 million war indemnity it owed.
The purpose of Wan Lei's move to retreat is to win over public opinion and stand on the moral high ground. After all, "taking" someone else's province in private is always morally untenable and can easily be seen by the people. If you become an aggressor, this will not be conducive to the future war to destroy Ming Dynasty.
After Wan Lei issued this statement, the original occupation changed qualitatively: the Republic of China did not covet Zhejiang, but the people of Zhejiang wanted to join the Republic of China with great intention. The Republic of China was not willing to refuse, so it had no choice but to accept it. And he was willing to compensate for the territorial losses of the Ming Dynasty by exempting him from huge war indemnities.
The Republic of China is so benevolent and just. Regardless of whether Emperor Jianwen believed it or not, many ordinary people were willing to believe it. Public opinion suddenly revived. The three major autonomous provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi also sent people northward to demand peaceful annexation like Zhejiang. The Republic of China enables the people to enjoy the blessing of peace.
Zhejiang took the lead, and the coastal provinces also followed suit. Emperor Jianwen seemed to see the tragic scene of being besieged on all sides. At the end of October, as soon as the Beijing army entered Zhejiang and entered Suzhou, it was blocked by the Peking Army. Progress along the way was very slow and almost impossible. Occupy Zhejiang in a short period of time.
Those who entered Zhejiang to fight were the 20,000 troops of the Second Group Army of the Peking Army. These people were also very "restrained" and kept fighting and retreating on the border without making any major counterattacks. While retreating, they relied on the terrain of the Jiangnan river network to deploy defense lines. , the war lasted for three days, but the Ming army only advanced a few dozen kilometers. However, what they lost during this period was large tracts of popular support.
Since the day when the Ming Dynasty entered Zhejiang, Wan Lei took the Pingyang Railway southward. Although the Pingyang Railway only went to Xuzhou, Wan Lei traveled day and night and arrived in Yangzhou in only one day and one night. In Yangzhou City, he He issued statements many times in the hope of truce and peace talks with the Ming Dynasty.
With intensive statements and Jingzhongwei's overwhelming propaganda, all the provinces in Jiangnan heard Wan Lei's voice of wishing for an armistice, but could not hear a single reply from the Ming Dynasty. For a time, Jiangxi, Huguang and other provinces that were still loyal to the Ming Dynasty Some were disappointed and already regarded the Ming Dynasty as the culprit for provoking the war.
After retreating for five consecutive days, Wan Lei also issued statements for four consecutive days. On the sixth day, which was November 5, Wan Lei, who had "unbearable", finally got angry and issued a very harsh statement. Statement: If the Ming Dynasty does not withdraw its troops from Zhejiang, it will declare a full-scale war, and the Peiping Army will fight back in self-defense.
After this statement of "self-defense counterattack" was issued, the naval fleet had all gathered on the Yangtze River. There were a total of twenty Xia-class warships and fifty Zhenyuan warships, and many plank ships were brought in. As for the army, In addition to the 20,000 troops entering Zhejiang to assist, the remaining 30,000 troops of the Second Army, plus the 50,000 troops of the Third Army, were all assembled outside Yangzhou City, ready to cross the river at any time.
On the night of November 5th, when there were still two hours left before the deadline given by Wan Lei, hundreds of flat boats stood side by side on the river north of Zhenjiang, tied by money ropes. , in just one hour, a pontoon bridge was formed across the river.
At midnight, Wan Lei issued an order for a self-defense counterattack. Zhao Quanzhong, the general in full military uniform, ordered tens of thousands of troops to cross the river along the pontoon bridge. Under the cover of naval battleship gunfire, they stormed Zhenjiang City in the form of a blitzkrieg and defended the city. Although the Ming army in the city was well prepared, their morale dropped sharply under the fierce artillery attack. Seeing that there was no hope of defending the city, Luo Cheng, the chief general who defended the city, opened the city and surrendered, and Zhenjiang City was recovered.
Zhenjiang is the east gate of Jinling. The loss of Zhenjiang overnight meant that the eastern gate of the Ming Dynasty was wide open. When the news spread back to Jinling, Emperor Jianwen was dumbfounded. The Ming Dynasty had been trying every possible means in the south of the Yangtze River, especially in the Jinling area. A solid river defense was established, many castles were built, and many cannons were installed. It can almost be described as impregnable.
However, this so-called impregnable river defense was broken overnight. The only and last line of defense that Emperor Jianwen could rely on was broken. Jinling City suddenly fell into panic. Emperor Jianwen immediately issued an order for troops from all over the country to return. King Jingqin.
After Zhao Quanzhong occupied Zhenjiang, he did not rush westward to Jinling, but stationed himself where he was. Geng Xuan, who was fighting in Zhejiang, saw that the Peking Army was standing still and was unhappy because he knew that the Peking Army was waiting in Zhenjiang. That's him.
At the same time that Zhao Quanzhong was crossing the river, the 60,000 troops of the Fourth Army assembled in Chongqing also began to move down the river, spying on the Huguang area, and took advantage of the opportunity when the troops in the Huguang and Jiangxi areas were heading to Jinling to attack King Qin. In short, everything Ready, just waiting for the final blow.
Before completing this final blow, Wan Lei took the Xia-1 battleship and brought the main force of the navy to the outside of Jinling City. With the sound of air whistles resounding in the sky, he made one last attempt to persuade the Ming Dynasty to surrender.