Xu Baisheng stood outside the gate and looked up at the Gaoyou city wall. He saw fewer and fewer soldiers on the wall. In an instant, no one was left.
Chang Yuchun grinned and said: "It seems the news is correct. The north gate of Gaoyou has been captured by the Tatars. Marshal, let's lead the troops into the city too!"
Xu Baisheng said nothing, only took out the map and carefully looked at the structure of the streets and alleys in Gaoyou City, and his eyes finally stopped in the direction of Prince Cheng's Mansion.
The palace is located in the west of the city and covers a huge area, equivalent to a city within a city.
Zhang Shicheng even transferred the soldiers from the south gate, most likely to stick to the palace, and the situation changed from being flanked by two families to a melee between three families.
Fang Yuan came close to him and said: "Shuai Xu, the city of Gaoyou has been destroyed, and I'm afraid there will be a big fight with the Tatars soon. Should I report back to the king and send the Sizhou army to come for reinforcements?"
Xu Baisheng nodded and said: "Deputy Commander Fang reminds me that I have to arrange this matter for you."
Fang Yuan agreed and turned around.
Xu Baisheng thought for a while and said: "Mr. Lu, you will lead an army of 50,000 people into Gaoyou City and just stick to the south gate wall. There is no need to go deep into the city!"
Li Er said loudly: "Take the order."
Xu Baisheng said again: "General Hou Baisi, you led 3,000 cavalry. After entering the city, you shouted in the streets south of the city, saying that Gaoyou City has been lost and that you can only survive by going to Jiangdu Prefecture. If you encounter Mongolian cavalry, retreat immediately."
The monkey hurriedly said: "Yes!"
"General Geng San, after some of the people in the city come out, your ten thousand musketeers will immediately enter the city, use private houses as strongholds, and guard several main streets in the south of the city."
Geng San accepted the promise.
"General Chang Yuchun, General Wang, you two will lead 30,000 cavalry and guard the left and right sides of the camp, waiting for orders."
The two said in unison: "Yes!"
……
A fast horse galloped from the north, galloping towards the north gate of Jiangdu City.
Immediately, the scout was sweating profusely, holding a small flag and shouting: "Emergency military situation! Emergency military situation!"
With a "click", the side door on the left side of the north gate was opened by the soldiers. The scouts passed through the door and headed towards the west palace along the city wall.
A quarter of an hour later, the news reached Zhengyang Palace.
After Zhang Yangquan learned that Gaoyou City had been lost, he was stunned for a while.
He had just ordered the bombardment of Gaoyou City for three days, but he never expected that Gaoyou City would be breached on the fourth day!
"Invite the Privy Council to send people to Sizhou and ask Zhu Yuanzhang to lead the troops to attack Gaoyou City! Then send people to invite the queen over."
Not long after, Qin Lingjun came to the main hall.
"Your Majesty, has Gaoyou City been lost?" she asked.
Zhang Yangquan leaned on the dragon chair and sighed: "Yes, it is unbelievable that Gaoyou City, which Tuotuo attacked for more than two months without falling, was captured in just one day after the expansion."
Qin Lingjun thought for a while and said, "I don't think it's strange at all."
"Oh? Why?"
Qin Lingjun sat down next to him and said slowly: "In my opinion, there are three reasons for the fall of Gaoyou City."
"Which three?"
"First of all, we bombarded Gaoyou City with artillery for three days. Although we did not attack the city, it put great pressure on the defenders and severely damaged the morale of the Gaoyou army."
Zhang Yangquan nodded: "So, we made a wedding dress for the expanded silhouette?"
Qin Lingjun smiled and said: "Gaoyou City has not fallen into his hands, and I can't say who took advantage at the moment."
"Well, please talk about the next two points!"
"Second, we attracted the Gaoyou garrison to the south of the city, expanded the perimeter and stayed at Baoying, so we paralyzed Zhang Shicheng and underestimated the speed of the Mongolian cavalry's advance!"
Zhang Yangquan sighed: "Soldiers are valuable and quick, this sentence is absolutely true. What about the third point?"
"That's the change in the Gaoyou Army itself! In the past few years, the Gaoyou Army has rarely fought and had no training. The soldiers are addicted to comfort. Such a team is naturally not as good as the fierce army that rebelled back then.
!"
Zhang Yangquan smiled and said: "It's rare that you can analyze so calmly. Aren't you afraid of losing the battle on the front line?"
Qin Lingjun raised his chin and said: "I have been watching the training of this army. I believe they will never be as vulnerable as Gaoyou Army!"
Zhang Yangquan nodded: "Having said that, after all, this battle is of great importance. I would like to send 50,000 troops from the military camp in the north of the city to support. What do you think?"
Qin Lingjun shook her head and advised: "Husband, after these 50,000 people are sent out, Xu Baisheng will worry about us, so it is better to stay in Jiangdu City."
Zhang Yangquan was stunned for a moment and suddenly woke up.
If all the troops in the city were sent out, Xu Baisheng would definitely be worried about expanding his territory and taking a long route to surprise Jiangdu Prefecture, and would instead tie up his hands and feet.
He nodded and said with a smile: "You're right to remind me. I'm a little impatient. The front line will be left to the soldiers. Let's just do the logistics work. Someone, go and invite Hu Jiancheng and Jia Jiancheng."
Come here."
Not long after the order was issued, Hu Guangcao and Jia Ban came to the main hall together.
Zhang Yangquan asked: "Hu Jiancheng, how many breech-loading muskets does the Ordnance Bureau have?"
Hu Guangcao hurriedly said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, there are more than three thousand!"
Zhang Yangquan was slightly surprised and said with a smile: "The manufacturing speed seems to be faster than the previous front-loading muskets!"
Hu Guangcao said happily: "Yes, Hanshan Dushi has improved the structure of the gun body and simplified the process, so the manufacturing speed has increased a lot!"
Zhang Yangquan said happily: "Very good, you will immediately deliver these three thousand breech-loading muskets to the Privy Council. The battle on the front line is very urgent, and these three thousand muskets will definitely be effective!"
Hu Guangcao hurriedly said: "Yes!"
Zhang Yangquan turned his eyes to Jia Ban and said, "Jia Jiancheng, how many pieces of artillery are there with explosive shells?"
Jia Ban said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, there are only twenty gates."
"Where are the cannonballs?"
"There are enough artillery shells, more than 4,000."
Zhang Yangquan nodded and said: "The same goes for you, hand over the artillery and shells to the Privy Council."
Jiaban suddenly said: "Your Majesty, my brother came up with a new weapon through explosive bombs, which is similar to explosive bombs, but instead of firing with artillery, it is thrown by hand."
Zhang Yangquan said happily: "This is a grenade, very good. How many grenades have you made?"
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Jiaban was secretly shocked and thought: "How come your Majesty seems to know about this kind of weapon?" He replied: "Because I haven't asked you for instructions yet, I only made 500 to test the power."
Zhang Yangquan nodded repeatedly and said: "This thing is very useful. You can develop it in large quantities in the future. The priority is the same as that of explosive bombs. Those five hundred grenades will be transported to the front line!"
Jia Ban accepted the promise.
Under Zhang Yangquan's personal watch, the weapons from the Ordnance Bureau were quickly delivered to the Privy Council and then transported to Gaoyou City via cargo ships.
……
Zhu Yuanzhang slept on the east wall of Jinhu County at night these days.
After Zhang Yangquan asked him to garrison Sizhou, he personally led 30,000 troops to garrison in Jinhu, ready to respond to the Gaoyou war situation at any time.
Originally, he planned to station 50,000 men in Jinhu, but Lieutenant General Zhang Biao objected. He felt that Xuzhou in the north should also be on guard, and not just focus on one place.
So Zhu Yuanzhang gave him 20,000 people and asked him to garrison Hongxian, while he led 30,000 people to garrison Jinhu.
During the few days he was stationed, he ordered a large number of fishing boats to be docked on the north shore.
In the afternoon, Zhu Yuanzhang was checking the number of fishing boats on the lakeshore. Another deputy general, Han Er, said in confusion: "Commander, these fishing boats can't fight. Why don't you ask your Majesty for some warships?"
Zhu Yuanzhang crossed his arms and glanced at him sideways: "Who said these fishing boats can't fight?"
Han Er glared and said: "The ship is so small and has no artillery. If we only compare archery skills, we can't compare with the Tatars. How can we fight?"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "Don't worry, our navy will be unstoppable and unstoppable!"
At this moment, another general ran over.
"Commander, the two thousand wooden stakes you requested are ready."
Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "Is it painted black?"
"Painted."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Move all the wooden stakes onto the fishing boats, one for each boat."
The general promised and handed down the order, and soon soldiers came over carrying a pile of black wooden stakes.
Han Er didn't understand it at first, but when Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to place wooden stakes directly in front of the fishing boat, he suddenly realized it.
"Commander, you want to use these wooden stakes as artillery!"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "Does it look similar?"
Han Er touched the back of his head and said with a smile: "It looks a bit like it. A Tatar would definitely not recognize it if he saw it from a distance!"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.
Suddenly hearing the sound of horse hoofbeats, a messenger came galloping from a distance and said loudly: "Military order from the Privy Council, Gaoyou City was defeated by the Yuan Army, and the Sizhou Army immediately rushed to Gaoyou City's aid!"
Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed and quickly accepted the order, ordering the entire army to prepare for an attack within an hour.