Ye Mengxiong decided to join the Northern Expedition Army.
This was undoubtedly great news for the entire Zhennan Army. Yuan Huang and Mei Guozhen were so excited that they had tears in their eyes when they heard about this. The generals cheered and jumped for joy, ready to celebrate their victory.
On the twelfth day of the tenth month, Xiao Ruxun officially led her army into Wuchang Prefecture. Soon after, she also brought Hanyang Prefecture and Hankou under her rule. She sent troops to occupy and control the entire Wuhan region, obtaining more than three hundred shipping ships.
No one in the surrounding area could stop Xiao Ruxun's actions.
The first thing Xiao Ruxun did after entering Wuchang was to meet with the officials who had surrendered. He comforted them and praised them for being righteous. Of course, it was hard to say how many of them were righteous and how many were coerced.
However, as long as they gave up resisting, Xiao Ruxun didn't care about anything else.
It was a little funny that the hereditary Duke of Wei, Xu Hongji, was also in Wuchang. After surrendering to Xiao Ruxun, he begged Xiao Ruxun not to make things difficult for his family in Nanjing with a bitter face. He was too nervous when he escaped and left his family in Nanjing.
Xiao Ruxun didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Don't worry, Duke Wei. I can't guarantee anything else, but I'll take the head of anyone who dares to break the rules. It was the Dragon Battalion of the Zhennan Army Navy that attacked Nanjing. They were also trained by me. The military discipline is absolutely reliable, and they will never kill innocent people."
Xiao Ruxun knew about this. Jiang Dahai's report said that Duke Wei and his family had all been captured except Xu Hongji. They were locked up in Duke Wei's Mansion. Xiao Ruxun told Jiang Dahai to take good care of them and not to hurt them.
"Thank you, Duke Qin."
Xu Hongji thanked him carefully.
Xiao Ruxun also sighed with emotion that Xu Da's descendants were so unbearable.
After placating these fence-sitters, Xiao Ruxun began to gather the core members of the team to decide on their next course of action.
"Since we've already taken Wuchang Prefecture, the next step is naturally to follow the river and meet up with the navy at Nanjing, and then head north. At present, Shen Yicheng has dispatched Li Hualong's forces to confront me at Yangzhou. As long as we can eat up Li Hualong's forces, the road from Yangzhou to the capital will be open, and Shen Yicheng's other plans will be futile!"
Xiao Ruxun pointed at the map and explained to everyone.
Some officials expressed concern.
"What if he mobilizes the Liaodong Army and the other nine armies to the south?"
Xiao Ruxun shook his head.
"The generals of the nine borders are not fools. I've received news that the Liaodong Army has also been mobilized by Shen Yicheng, but Li Rusong, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Army, has led troops to quell the border trouble, instead of obeying Shen Yicheng's order to go south to the capital. Only Li Zhenbing has gone south. That is to say, the generals of the nine borders may not obey Shen Yicheng's order to go south to cooperate with him.
"And I've already ordered another army to go north from Sichuan and march into Hanzhong to threaten the troops in Guanzhong and the northwest from Hanzhong. At least it can hold back the troops of the four towns so that they don't dare to move, and give them a reason not to obey the imperial edict."
"This is a good thing."
Ye Mengxiong looked at the map and said, "Since the generals of the nine borders and Shen Yicheng appear to be united, it means that they will wait and see, and Shen Yicheng will be isolated and helpless. Only the troops around the capital can be mobilized. Those troops, humph! They will collapse at the first touch! "
"What about the troops in other areas of the Central Plains?"
Another official asked.
"Other areas? The Central Plains has not experienced war for a long time, and the local troops are not strong. They are all from the Imperial Guards. It's still a problem to recruit many troops. Based on my many years of experience in local posts, they will collapse at the first touch. There's no need to worry at all. "
Ye Mengxiong shook his head repeatedly and said, "In the name of the righteous northern expedition, I can guarantee that most of the officials and troops will not resist. We just need to march north. Even if there is resistance, it will be small and not worth mentioning."
Hearing Ye Mengxiong's words, the others didn't say anything else.
Seeing this, Xiao Ruxun said, "Then the next step is to discuss how to solve the problem of Li Hualong. I don't know Li Hualong very well. Mr. Ye, how much do you know about Li Hualong?"
Ye Mengxiong thought for a while.
"Li Hualong is a strong person, and he does things swiftly and decisively. He is not easy to deal with. Now that he has promised Shen Yicheng to go south to suppress the rebels, he should not abandon the dark side so easily. He still has troops in his hands, and maybe he will resist to the end. We need to prepare for the worst."
Xiao Ruxun nodded.
"In that case, let's face the enemy head-on. I have hundreds of thousands of troops here, do I still need to worry about his troops? If he insists on fighting me to the end, I will fight him to the death. Since the beginning of the war, I have not met a decent opponent. It's a good time to try! "
Xiao Ruxun's words were full of confidence, but when Ye Mengxiong heard it, he also felt an inexplicable sadness.
"We have fought a hundred thousand troops along the way, but the Daming's million troops have not made any progress. It is enough to see to what extent the Daming's military preparations have been abandoned. If it were the Northern Barbarians who attacked this time, who knows how bad things would have been? Thinking back to the Great Ancestor Chengzu's Northern Expedition, how imposing it was back then. How did it end up like this?"
Ye Mengxiong revealed a sorrowful expression, and the other officials also revealed sorrowful expressions.
The generals looked at each other, their mouths twitching.
Why? Wasn't it all because of you scholars?
Fighting with the Imperial Guards for land, annexing land, destroying the foundations of the Imperial Guards system, and then suppressing the generals, not giving them any dignity, not to mention the soldiers at the bottom level. The generals only cared about making money, and the soldiers all had their own ideas. How could the army not collapse?
Fortunately, the one who had raised the troops this time was Xiao Ruxun. He had directly exposed the true situation that was riddled with thousands of holes and placed it in front of everyone for them to see. Otherwise, no one would be willing to admit that this problem really existed.
They would continue to hide it, continue to embezzle the country's property, and eat the flesh and blood of the Daming to fatten themselves. When the Manchurian Qing came south and stole all these things, they would have completed their historical mission.
The atmosphere in the conference hall gradually became somewhat oppressive. At this time, a messenger suddenly ran in from outside.
"Reporting to Marshal! Reporting for battle of the navy! "
Xiao Ruxun's spirit shook, and he immediately stretched out his hand. "Let me see it!"
The messenger handed over Jiang Dahai's battle report. Xiao Ruxun was filled with anticipation, hoping to see the good news of Jiang Dahai defeating Li Hualong's attack. This way, it would reduce some of the obstacles for him.
In the end, when he opened the battle report and glanced at it, Xiao Ruxun's eyes widened.
"What's wrong, Ji Xin?"
Ye Mengxiong looked at Xiao Ruxun's strange expression and couldn't help but ask.
Xiao Ruxun raised his head and looked at Ye Mengxiong, a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Sir Ye, Li Hualong is finished."
Ye Mengxiong's eyes widened.
"Finished?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
