After receiving the news that Tao Qian had led nearly 40,000 troops south and captured Xuzhou, the morale of the Ming army in Shouchun City was inevitably affected.
After all, after he has captured all the counties in the Jianghuai River, how long can the isolated city of Shouchun be defended?
Faced with such a situation, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately stood up to refute the rumors, saying that this was a treacherous plot by the Han army to undermine the morale of his own army.
The officers and soldiers of the Ming army were naturally dubious about this, but most people were willing to believe Zhu Yuanzhang, and the internal turmoil was barely resolved. However, if the external threat is not resolved, the crisis in Shouchun will not be resolved.
"Li Wenzhong, can you stop walking back and forth? I'm almost knocked unconscious." Zhu Wenzheng shouted with a dissatisfied look on his face.
"I'm not in a hurry."
The anxious Li Wenzhong kept pacing back and forth, and then said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Master, if you continue to be so indifferent, will Tao Qian really hit Jianghuai?"
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and said calmly: "Steady, don't panic. The more critical the situation, the more calm we must act."
Zhu Yuanzhang was actually very anxious, but he knew that he must not panic, because he was Shouchun's backbone. Once he panicked, the battle would be lost.
Zhu Yuanzhang's calmness also infected the generals. Li Wenzhong suppressed the anxiety in his heart and said in a deep voice: "My lord, how about we give up Shouchun and retreat to other places? If this continues, even the retreat will be blocked..."
Before Li Wenzhong finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhu Wenzheng.
"Never give up on Shouchun."
Zhu Wenzheng glared at Li Wenzhong and said seriously: "The Yangzhou coalition forces are watching eagerly outside. They are waiting for our army to break out. Once Shouchun is abandoned and loses the protection of the city wall, our army will be completely annihilated."
"Then what do you think we should do? If this continues, Shouchun will become an isolated city, and it will be a matter of time before it falls."
Zhu Wenzheng was speechless, but still insisted on his point of view.
"In short, Shouchun must not be given up. As long as Shouchun is there, the Yangzhou Allied Forces will not be able to enter the Central Plains. Once Shouchun is lost, the southern front will be defeated, and one hundred thousand Yangzhou Allied Forces will directly attack the Central Plains, thereby threatening Chen Liu."<
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"Then can you come up with a solution?"
"...Anyway, we can't give up Shouchun."
"What's the difference between this and not saying anything?"
"It's better than your bad idea."
"Who do you think is the bad idea?"
"You..."
Zhu Yuanzhang was so upset by the quarrel among his generals that he couldn't bear it any longer, and finally shouted angrily: "Shut up, everyone."
Seeing that their lord was angry, the two generals did not dare to act recklessly. Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly: "Shou Chun must not give up, Tao Qian must also solve it."
"But what to do?"
"We can only divide our forces into two groups."
A trace of determination flashed in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, and he said solemnly: "Zhu Wenzheng, you will protect Shouchun for me."
"No."
Zhu Wenzheng knelt down on one knee and said sternly: "The final general will not betray the trust of the lord."
"Li Wenzhong, you go with me to deal with Tao Qian."
"Okay." Li Wenzhong grinned, and then asked: "Lord, how many soldiers and horses are we going to bring to meet the enemy?"
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and said calmly: "One thousand."
Li Wenzhong's eyes widened and he even thought that he had heard wrongly. After asking again, he found that he had indeed heard correctly, so he said with a broken face:
"Lord, Tao Qian has an army of 30,000 to 40,000 people. We only bring a thousand people. Do we dare to go there and die?"
"The soldiers and horses of Shouchun cannot be moved lightly. Once too many are mobilized, it will be difficult to keep Shouchun unstable."
"But a thousand is too little, right?"
A sneer flashed across Zhu Yuanzhang's lips, and he said calmly: "Although the Xuzhou Army is large in number, its general Tao Qian is mediocre. Tao Qian lost our army thirty-seven battles in a row. He has long been afraid that our army is like a tiger. Against the mere Xuzhou Army, he was
A thousand yellow scarf warriors are enough."
Hearing that his lord was talking about a thousand Yellow Turban warriors, Li Wenzhong felt a little calmer. After all, those were the most elite Yellow Turban warriors in the Ming Dynasty. It should not be a problem to deal with the notoriously cowardly Xuzhou Army.
Xuzhou originally had elite Danyang soldiers, but as most of the Danyang soldiers in the army were killed in battle, Danyang was captured by Xiang Yu, and coupled with repeated defeats against the Yellow Turbans, the Xuzhou Army's combat effectiveness became weaker and weaker, so
That's why Li Wenzhong looked down on the Xuzhou Army so much.
Zhu Wenzheng was not as optimistic as Li Wenzhong. Although Xuzhou was weak, there were only thirty or forty thousand strong men. How could a thousand yellow turban warriors win?
Zhu Yuanzhang saw Zhu Wenzheng's worries at a glance, and immediately explained: "Don't worry, I will never fight an uncertain battle. A thousand yellow scarf warriors are indeed not enough to deal with the Xuzhou Army, so I am also prepared to use Chen Liu and Dong
Move troops from both sides of the line."
"My lord, Chen Liu's garrison is already insufficient. How can we mobilize troops and horses? The eastern front is nearly a thousand miles away from the Jianghuai River. It's hard to quench the thirst of a distant water."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled indifferently and said softly: "Chen Liu's garrison is indeed insufficient, but sending three thousand soldiers and horses to support will not affect Chen Liu's defense. The eastern front is thousands of miles away from the Jianghuai River, and it is indeed difficult to quench the thirst of the near by water.
, but what if the cavalry comes to support?"
Zhu Wenzheng stared at his lord with wide eyes and looked at his lord in disbelief, while Zhu Yuanzhang looked up at the sky, feeling uneasy and confused.
Xiang Yu, now is not the time for internal fighting, you must lend me the Overlord Cavalry!
——————
In the fifth year of Zhongping, March 1st, night.
Zhu Yuanzhang took advantage of the darkness and led a thousand yellow turban warriors to leave Shouchun and go north to Jianghuai to face Tao Qian, no, it should be Sun Wu.
Tao Qian didn't know that Zhu Yuanzhang had left Shouchun. With the assistance of Sun Wu, he was trying his best to conquer Jianghuai. But when he discovered Zhu Yuanzhang, it was already too late.
On the night of March 10th, Zhu Yuanzhang personally led a thousand elites to attack Tao Jun at night.
There were no loopholes in the camp arranged by Sun Wu, but most of the sentries were still seen through by Zhu Yuanzhang. They were not discovered until the army reached a thousand meters outside the camp, but it was already too late.
In a night attack, Tao's army suffered thousands of casualties. If Sun Wu hadn't reacted quickly, Zhu Yuanzhang might have even burned down the granary.
Zhu Yuanzhang immediately escaped after the attack and lurked secretly, preparing for the next night attack.
On March 16, at night, Zhu Yuanzhang once again prepared to attack Tao Camp at night.
The moon was dark and the wind was high, which was a good time to kill people and set fires. But before the action was about to take place, the strong wind blew off the red banner.
Seeing this ominous sign, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression changed drastically and he quickly ordered a retreat.
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang did not walk into the ambush, Sun Wu could only order the ambush troops to rush out in advance, so that although they could not completely annihilate them, they could still suffer heavy losses.
After a great battle, more than half of Zhu Yuanzhang's Yellow Turban warriors suffered casualties, while the Xuzhou Army suffered even greater casualties.
Zhu Yuanzhang, who had suffered a big loss, no longer took risks, but harassed the Xuzhou army while waiting for the arrival of reinforcements.
On March 26, Chen Liu's 3,000 reinforcements arrived on the battlefield.
On March 29, three thousand Overlord Cavalry from the Eastern Front arrived on the battlefield.
On April 5, Zhu Yuanzhang and Sun Wu fought to the death.