In the minds of Annan's soldiers, Du Yingwu was already somewhat of a "god of war".
In the first battle, Annan faced the siege of the four countries, and all the other generals were severely defeated. Only Du Yingwu defeated the captured city and the Zhenla Allied Forces.
In the second battle, barbarians from Wendan (Vientiane, Laos) invaded, and Du Yingwu led his army to kill the generals and captured them.
In the third battle, the mountain tigers invaded. All the generals returned without success, but Du Yingwu was the only one who defeated the mountain tigers.
These three wars took place within just a few years, and Du Yingwu quickly accumulated extremely high prestige in the military.
Moreover, his father is Li Changjie's nephew.
Li Changjie was the last Annan God of War, who defeated all surrounding countries and even led his troops to invade Guangxi.
In addition, in the past 20 to 30 years, Annan has favored culture and suppressed military power, abolished the army, and reduced military pay, which caused resentment among soldiers across the country. After Du Yingwu's coup, although he did not order an expansion of the army, he restored military pay and benefits, and he suddenly gained
Military spirit.
"Why do you want to participate in the conspiracy?" Du Yingwu asked.
Su Xiancheng was not killed because he was a Taifu and his official position was so high that even the Imperial Army did not dare to touch him.
Su Xiancheng sighed: "If I don't go, they will rebel against the Forbidden Army."
Du Yingwu sneered: "Forbidden Army soldiers, how can they instigate rebellion with their empty words?"
"If you lure them with wealth, threaten them with the Ming army, and rebuke them with great righteousness, some of the Forbidden Army generals will definitely be instigated to rebel," Su Xiancheng said. "These people are not keeping secrets and will definitely leak the news. When the time comes, the Forbidden Army will kill each other and let the Ming Dynasty
The army slaughtered fish and meat. A few years ago, nearly 100,000 people were taken captive in Thang Long Mansion. Although the late emperor ordered the people to move to the capital, they have only recovered to 40 to 50,000. Do you want to be robbed by the Ming army again in Thang Long?
Mansion?"
Su Xiancheng didn't want to get rid of Du Yingwu because he was afraid of forcing the other party to jump over the wall.
Su Xiancheng's idea was very clear, which was to prevent Du Yingwu from directly usurping the throne, and at the same time manage the country well, and wait until the little emperor grew up to take charge.
Historically, it was this king who moderated the situation, and Du Yingwu never overturned the table.
Even after the young emperor came of age, the ministers dismissed Du Yingwu from office. It was Empress Dowager Li who repeatedly begged for mercy and was reinstated.
Of course, Du Yingwu, who has been reinstated, will definitely not be able to give up.
He compiled a series of charges, killing eight people, maiming five, exiled more than 30 people, and dismissed more than 60 people, including a prince, two marquises and a prince consort.
He also carried out high-pressure rule: eunuchs were not allowed to enter the palace without permission. King Annan had to obtain his consent if he wanted to see the eunuch. Courtiers were not allowed to associate with clan nobles. In the palace, officials were not allowed to go to court or leave the court, and no more than three people were allowed.
Meeting and talking with less than ten people... This is called a powerful official. Du Yingwu was driven crazy by the civil servants.
Now, before the little emperor could grow up, the Ming army suddenly came and broke the delicate balance.
If the Annan civil servants wanted to use the Ming army to eradicate the powerful minister, they would naturally force the powerful minister to take action first!
Du Yingwu said: "If you don't want to kill me, I will kill you. What do you think I should do?"
Su Xiancheng said: "Release the families of the killed officials, and then send people to negotiate with the Ming army."
"Do you think I'm a fool?" Du Yingwu sneered: "If I release the family members of those rebellious ministers, they will lead the Ming army into the city!"
Not all the family members of those killed were in Thang Long Palace, but several key figures were, including the consort Yang Siming.
In addition, the conspiracy was carried out at Wu Dai's home.
The military belt was the infantry commander of the Imperial Army and the third most powerful figure in the Annan Forbidden Army. He was dissatisfied that Du Yingwu was in charge of the Forbidden Army alone. He did not benefit from the coup, but was eliminated by Du Yingwu.
military power.
How can we not eradicate these people?
Su Xiancheng asked: "How will you end up killing all the officials and their families?"
"It's hard to get off the tiger, it has to be like this," Du Yingwu said, "You go home and rest, no family members are allowed to go out at will. After the Ming Dynasty withdraws its troops, I will invite you out to be the Taifu."
Su Xiancheng was disheartened and was escorted home by the Imperial Guards and placed under house arrest.
Du Yingwukong sat in the quiet room, with all kinds of feelings flooding into his heart.
He is only twenty-five years old!
It was unavoidable to do things in a hurry, and the coup was too crude. Moreover, it suddenly disappeared, and he stayed overnight in the palace unscrupulously, leaving too many clues and excuses for others.
He went on two missions to the Ming Dynasty and knew how powerful the Ming Dynasty was.
He believed that as long as he did not usurp power, support a small emperor, and then send people to Luoyang to ask for the title of king, the Ming Emperor should be able to get off the donkey.
Unexpectedly, Ming Dynasty directly sent troops and used the name of his sister, Queen Mother Du!
Not only did Ming Dynasty send troops, but Dali was also involved.
Shen Li, a powerful local faction, raised troops to Qingjun's side. After being easily defeated by Du Yingwu, he actually fled all the way to Dali.
Shenli borrowed hundreds of elite soldiers from Dali, recruited barbarians on the northwest border of Annan, and captured Jidong (Gaoping Province) to directly attack Taiyuan.
At this moment, Shenli had already captured Taiyuan City.
Then he changed his name to Zhao Zhizhi and claimed to be the illegitimate son of the previous king Li Renzong. He proclaimed himself "King Ping" and "Pingyuan General", and called on the Annan gentry to join forces to attack the Du thieves.
In other words, Du Yingwu was surrounded by enemies on both sides at this time, with the Ming army to his east and the Shenli rebels to his northwest.
Suddenly, Du Yingwu opened his eyes, summoned several confidants and said: "Those rebels who were killed yesterday, all those whose families were in the capital were killed. The men were made slaves, and the women were given to the soldiers. Their property and land were all distributed to the imperial army.
Soldiers!"
Not only was the Annan Forbidden Army allocated land, but the local troops and generals who were urgently transferred also received large rewards.
Moreover, Du Yingwu also promised that after the war, more soldiers would be given land.
For a time, the morale of Annan's army was high.
Du Yingwu, who was only twenty-five years old, asked his brothers to lead the troops to guard the palace and the capital, and then led an army of 40,000 to fight the Ming army in a decisive battle.
He has received news that only two to three thousand people from the Ming army came, and the rest were local defenders recruited in Annan.
If ten of them fight one, even if they can't win a big victory, they can still prevent the Ming army from attacking the city.
It is useless to just run away and avoid war. The Ming army has the righteousness of Empress Dowager Du. If Du Yingwu abandons Shenglong Mansion, he will truly become a rebel. Even if the Ming Dynasty withdraws its troops, a new king will be established in Shenglong Mansion and a new army will be formed.
imperial court.
…
"Your Highness, there is an enemy attack ahead and we have defeated it. Both Beijiang Road City and Tiandefu City are heavily guarded!"
When Zhu Kang got the news, he was not happy but overjoyed.
Beijiang Road City and Tiandefu City are on the north and south banks of the Longjiang River respectively, less than a hundred miles away from Shenglong Palace.
The two cities strangle the Long River and are the east gate of Thang Long Palace.
After defeating the defenders of the two cities, you can advance all the way and ascend to Long Mansion on horseback.
"Your Highness, I would like to invite the main attack!" said an Annan general named Zeng Huai.
"We are willing to fight to the death!"
Many Annan officials shouted.
They were all officials whom Zhu Kang subdued on the way, and they believed that Du Yingwu would definitely be defeated. The civilian officials stayed at their posts to raise food and grass, while the military attachés led troops to fight with Zhu Kang.
The Annan army under Zhu Kang's command numbered more than 5,000.
Of course, they all belong to the mob.
Zhu Kang encouraged these Annan generals to retreat.
After all the locals had left, Xie Hongcai said: "If we go deep alone, will the food route be cut off?"
Han Jing said with a smile: "If Du Yingwu was not stupid, he would definitely send troops to cut off the food road and even capture our rear city. We have few soldiers, only three thousand elites, and it is impossible to take care of the rear. We can only work hard to conquer Shenglong.
Take down the government!"
"Is General Han sure?" Xie Hong asked.
Han Jing said: "When we left Guangxi, General Yang Zaixing gave me several maps. Among them were the city walls of Beijiang Road City and Tiandefu City. We also borrowed twenty naval guns from the navy and fired along the way.
It won’t be a problem to get to Thang Long Palace. If we can’t attack for a long time and there is not enough food and grass, we can only collect food on the spot.”
Xie Hong said: "This time is different from the last time. General Yang can rob and leave, but we want to govern Annan. Requisitioning food on the spot will inevitably cause resentment among the people, which will not be conducive to future rule."
"Extremely pedantic! If Shenglong Mansion cannot be defeated, how can we talk about future rule?" Han Jing retorted.
Han Jing also has a character flaw. He does not know how to build a good relationship with civil servants.
This man was originally from a wild background and had read some books, but he was not good enough to pass the scholar examination. When he fought guerrillas with the Jin soldiers, he developed a bandit spirit and frequently robbed wealthy households in Shanxi, otherwise his troops would have been starved.
died.
And I can't stand the civil servants who speak mercilessly.
Of course, Han Jing's three views are still very upright.
Historically, he put down the chaos in Fujian and Guangdong, which had been devastated for a long time. Han Jing was able to resume production in Lingnan, and even cracked down on corrupt officials to protect the people. As a result, he offended all the local officials. After he was dismissed, the people took the initiative
Build a shrine for him.
Xie Hong was choked by Han Jing, smiled and said nothing, but felt a little uncomfortable.
Zhu Kang didn't know how to read words yet, and he didn't understand that his men might be at odds with each other in civil and military affairs. He thought it was Han Jing who persuaded Xie Hong, so he decided: "Continue to march tomorrow!"
The next day, noon.
Zhu Kang led his army to the outside of the city on Beijiang Road and camped a few miles away from the city, waiting for the next day to attack again.
Du Yingwu personally sat guarding the city and stood still, waiting for news.
When the Ming army set up artillery and was about to attack the city, several fast boats came from behind. Several Annan civil and military officials reported in embarrassment: "Your Highness, the Du thieves sent elite troops to surprise the city. The city... The city was lost. The food and grass stored in the city were also destroyed.
What the Du thief got!"
Zhu Kang said: "Don't be afraid, there will be food soon. Moreover, the food and grass we carry with the army is enough for twenty days. If we save a little, we can last for more than a month."
Having said this, Annan's civil and military officials and soldiers were in panic about running out of food.
"Boom boom boom!"
Twenty artillery pieces dismantled from navy ships fired wildly at Beijiang Road City.
The terrifying momentum restored the morale of the Annan troops following the Ming army, thinking that this thing could hit Thang Long Palace all the way.
The Annan garrison inside the city was bombarded and began to panic.
After three days of continuous bombardment, some cracks began to appear in the city wall, and it was estimated that it would collapse in a few days.
Du Yingwu felt that his morale had plummeted, so he summoned his generals and said: "We have just received news that our partial division has successfully captured the city. The enemy's rear city is vulnerable, and our army has captured two cities in a row. The enemy has no follow-up food and fodder, and must be doomed."
The morale of the army is in great chaos. We can no longer defend the city, and while the enemy's morale is declining, we must leave the city tomorrow and fight to the death!"