After the third day of bombardment, when Dong Wenbing, who was full of worries, returned to the commander's house, he saw Dong Shixiu hurriedly entered the house and said: "Father, commander, something bad happened. General Ha Ciwu of Yizhou garrison led 5,000 elite troops out of the city last night, intending to make a sneak attack. The Song army fell into a trap and was ambushed. The entire army was wiped out. Even General Haciwu was killed by the Song army's bombs."
"Ah." Dong Wenbing said anxiously and hatefully. "What about Yizhou County?"
Dong Shixiu said: "Father, after the Song army defeated our army, he put on our army's armor and opened the city gate at night. Now Yizhou has been lost. Only less than a thousand of the three thousand soldiers who stayed behind escaped. .”
"Ha Ci Wu. You missed my big event." Dong Wenbing sighed. "If Yizhou is lost, Teng County will be difficult to protect. If the Song Army captures Teng County again, Yizhou will become an isolated city. It is unnecessary to defend it or not. Let’s discuss it again.”
"Father, let me lead the army to take back Yizhou."
Dong Wenbing shook his head and said: "Shixiu. The Song army is good at defending the city. They also have firearms. It will be difficult for our army to recapture it in a hurry."
"That......"
"Shixiu, go and call Wen Yong, Yingdu and all the army chiefs."
"Yes. Father, handsome."
After a while, Dong Wenyong, Tian Yingdu, and other major generals such as Oruch, the deputy commander of the Eastern Route Army who had just returned to Yizhou City from Dadu, arrived at the commander's residence one after another.
Seeing Oruch enter, Dong Wenbing was stunned for a moment and said: "General Oruch, when did you come back?"
"I just returned." Oruchi said calmly. "Dong Shuai. I heard that Yizhou has been lost."
Dong Wenbing said calmly: "Yes. General Oruchi and Yizhou garrison General Haciwu did not respect military orders. He went out of the city privately to attack the enemy at midnight last night. He was ambushed by the Song army and almost the entire army was wiped out."
The Eastern Route Army of the Yuan Dynasty was mainly composed of Han soldiers. Most of the main generals in the army were Han. Among them, there were only three senior Mongolian generals. One was the deputy commander Oruch and the other was Haciwu, the commander of ten thousand men. There is also Hahewu, the Jinan garrison and deputy envoy of the Shandong Road Army. This person is the brother of Hahewu. He stays in Jinan and leads the new army. These Mongolian generals have always looked down on the Han army generals. They are always self-conscious on weekdays. He was superior to others, so his relationship with Dong Wenbing and others was not harmonious.
Oruch was born in a timid Xue family. He once served as Mengge Khan's personal guard. He was good at riding and shooting, and had extraordinary wisdom and bravery. However, Oruch was quite dissatisfied with Kublai Khan's appointment of Dong Wenbing as the head coach of the East Route Army. The two of them were Therefore, there was some grudge. A few months ago, Xuzhou was captured by Li Tingzhi. As the general, Oruchi was slightly injured. He returned to Dadu on the pretext of recovering from illness.
After the Battle of Xuzhou, Oruchi also stopped despising the Song army. During his stay in Dadu, Kublai Khan specially summoned Oruchi and spoke to him. Since the emperor of the Southern Dynasties personally conquered the country, he has repeatedly taken advantage of firearms. Advantage. After our army was defeated in Xiangyang, we lost Dengzhou, Bianliang and other places one after another. The situation is not optimistic. For this reason, we must unite all the Han people and Jin people in our territory, especially the three major forces among the Han people. Dong Wenbing, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army, can be learned from his loyalty, courage and strategy. We must help each other and must not be hostile to him.
Although Oruchi was on good terms with Haciwu, he also knew that Haciwu did not carry out Dong Wenbing's order. He smiled slightly and said: "Dong Shuai, when I returned from Dadu, the emperor once said that our dynasty's musket development has been achieved. A breakthrough progress. It will soon be produced on a large scale. Before that, our soldiers should not fight head-on with the Southern Dynasty's firearms troops. If they encounter the Southern Dynasty's army using firearms, they should not attack easily. Instead, they should avoid their sharp edges. Preserve your strength. Ha Ciwu disrespected orders and sent troops privately. It violated the military discipline of our Eastern Route Army. I will report the truth to the emperor. Commander Dong, what will be the next step for our army?"
Seeing Oruchi was very different from before. Dong Wenbing's tone became more polite: "Commander Ao, I plan to withdraw to Jinan north."
"The walls of Jinan City are tall, and the terrain outside the city is open. Our army should be able to attack from different directions at the speed of the cavalry. We may be able to defeat the Southern Dynasty army. Since Commander Dong has a plan, I will support it."
"Okay, Commander-in-Chief, please report to the Emperor and the Privy Council immediately. Our troops will evacuate Yizhou tonight."
"Yes. Dong Shuai."
"Dong Wenyong, Tian Yingdu."
"The end will be here."
"Go down with the order. Pack your bags. At midnight tonight, leave the city from the north gate. The whole army will return to Jinan."
"Yes. I will obey your orders."
"Dong Shixiu."
"The end will be here."
"You go to Teng County immediately. Order Dong Wenzhong to evacuate tonight."
"Yes. I will obey your orders."
After all the generals left, Oruchi took out a letter from his arms, handed it to Dong Wenbing and said, "Dong Shuai. This is a letter written by the emperor."
"Written by the Emperor." Dong Wenbing hurriedly took the letter and read it.
Kublai Khan said in the letter that the Weapons Supervisor, with the help of the Supreme Lord, has successfully copied the muskets. It is estimated that one thousand can be produced every month. Before the muskets are equipped to each army, time must be delayed, conserve strength, and wait. Opportunity for counterattack. From the moment this letter is received, Dong Aiqing will formulate the Eastern Route Army's combat plan on his own. There is no need to report it to the Privy Council.
After reading it, Dong Wenbing felt hot and thought to himself that the emperor's intention was very obvious. Whether to fight or go is entirely up to him. This is equivalent to completely handing over the power of the East Route Army to himself.
Among the three armies of Mongolia's east, middle and west routes, the coach of the west route, Hedan, and the coaches of the middle route, Ashu and Boyan, are all Mongolians. Only the coach of the east route, Dong Wenbing, is a Han. This kind of favor can be done. It is said to be unprecedented since the founding of Mongolia.
"Oshuai, did the emperor say anything else?"
Oru Chidao: "Dong Shuai, the emperor personally mentioned, 'I can rest assured that Dong Aiqing is doing things.'"
"The emperor has shown great kindness to this general. This general should be shattered into pieces to repay the emperor's great kindness." Dong Wenbing sighed for a while and then said, "Commander O, have you recovered from your injuries?"
Early the next morning, Li Tingzhi led the army to the outside of Yizhou City again. The generals looked from a distance and saw that the area around the gate of Yizhou City was in dilapidated condition.
Xia Gui smiled and said: "Xiangfu. Today we can completely destroy the Yizhou City Gate."
Li Tingzhi nodded and said: "Yes. It is unheard of to destroy the enemy's gates from a long distance without a single soldier. The power of artillery is enough to change the previous siege tactics. General Xie, how many gates does our army currently have? It’s artillery.”
Xie Daolin stared at the city wall for a moment. The answer was unexpected: "Huh, it's a little strange. There seems to be no popularity at the top of Yizhou City today."
Xia Guidao: "General Xie. The Yuan army must have been frightened by our artillery and no longer dared to stand on the city wall."
Xie Daolin shook his head and said: "It doesn't look like it."
"You will know after a while," Li Tingzhi said. "General Xia Song ordered the artillery battalion to fire. The other armies are ready to charge."
"Yes. Marshal."
Tens of seconds later, twenty artillery pieces began bombarding. About a quarter of an hour later, Li Tingzhi saw that the Yizhou City Gate was basically in a state of collapse. He immediately ordered: "Send the artillery battalion to bombard the left and right of the city gate to cover it." The army attacks."
After receiving the order, the artillery battalion officers immediately adjusted the angle of the artillery and fired at the walls on both sides of the city gate. After three rounds of shelling, Li Tingzhi ordered again: "General Xia Song, pass the order. According to the plan, all troops will attack."
The Polu army took the lead, rushing out from both wings like lightning. Then, a column of infantry rushed out from the middle and attacked directly towards the city gate. Followed closely behind were all the soldiers of the Second Division of the Royal Forest Army.
Li Tingzhi and Xia Guizhuo immediately stood up. In their excitement, they even looked at the city gate with a hint of nervousness. Both of these two coaches had experienced hundreds of battles. But this was the first time they attacked the city under the roar of artillery. Continuous shelling damaged the city wall. The city wall was filled with smoke, blocking the sight of the two men. As usual, the defenders would fight back with long-range weapons such as bows and arrows. However, there was no movement on the city wall until the Polu troops rushed in through the collapsed city gate. The Yuan army also never fired arrows.
"Is there no one?" Li and Xia realized that what Xie Daolin just said was not groundless. Before they could think about it, they heard Xie Daolin beside them say: "General Jiang has rushed into the city."
Jiang Cai was the first to enter the city with a spear in his hand. Looking left and right, there was no one around.
"Could it be that the Yuan army has escaped?" Jiang Cai stood in front of the city gate culvert and said to the Polu soldiers who entered. "Scatter to the left and right. Patrol back and forth within fifty steps."
After a while, Shi Zhong led the infantry and rushed into the city. "General Jiang, what's going on?"
"General Shi, I don't know either. I haven't seen a single Mongolian soldier since entering the city."
"Did you escape?" Shi Zhong's first reaction was the same as Jiang Cai's.
"It's possible."
At this time, soldiers from the Polu Army returned to the city gate one after another to report: "General, no Mongolian soldiers were found within fifty steps to the left."
"General. There are no enemies within fifty steps to the right."
Jiang Caidao: "Expand the scope. Continue searching in the city."
Shi Zhong also ordered: "Thirty-one Army. Target. East gate of Yizhou. Thirty-third Army. West gate of Yizhou. Thirty-fourth Army. North gate of Yizhou. Thirty-fifth Army, Thirty-second Army. Cooperate to defeat the captives. Army. Search in the city."
When Li Tingzhi, Xia Gui and others entered Yizhou City, they saw only two or three Han people who looked like businessmen were saying something to Jiang Cai and Shi Zhong. Li Tingzhi quickly whipped his horse and came closer.
As soon as Jiang Cai saw Li Tingzhi, he quickly pointed to one of the elders and introduced them to both parties: "Commander. This is Dongfang Xuan, the person in charge of Yizhou Longya. Mr. Dongfang. This is Marshal Li Tingzhi, the coach of our Eastern Route Northern Expedition." .”
"Marshal Li, I have long admired your name." Dongfang Xuan saluted. "Marshal Li, the Mongolian army left Yizhou City last night. At present, there are no Yuan troops stationed anywhere in the city or at any gate."
As a member of Longya, Li Tingzhi dismounted and said in return: "Mr. Dongfang, thank you for your hard work."
"Marshal Li, we have finally seen you." Dongfang Xuan was very excited. "I will take you to the city guard's mansion first."