Xiao Ruxun felt that if he was going to give a gift, he had to give a big one. The first gift he gave to Shen Yicheng in return had to be of sufficient weight. Only in this way could he demonstrate his sincerity.
Thus, on the tenth day of the eleventh month, Jiang Dahai led five thousand marines and ten thousand infantry to disembark at the mouth of Dagu Pass. After wiping out the insignificant garrison, he charged straight for the Tianjin Garrison. The garrison of Tianjin had around five thousand soldiers. From this, one could see that Shen Yicheng and the others had not been unprepared for Xiao Ruxun to use his navy to disembark, but it was clear that he had underestimated the transport capacity of Xiao Ruxun's ships and his resolve.
On the eleventh day of the eleventh month, fifteen thousand soldiers under Jiang Dahai's command launched their first round of attacks, catching the Tianjin garrison off guard and causing them to suffer a crushing defeat. The garrison was routed like a landslide, the various defensive lines quickly fell. Jiang Dahai led the army straight in, directly attacking the Tianjin garrison.
Although the garrison general of Tianjin risked his life to defend the garrison and hastily requested reinforcements from the capital, before the capital's reinforcements could arrive, the Tianjin Garrison was captured by Jiang Dahai.
On the thirteenth day of the eleventh month, Jiang Dahai entered the Tianjin Garrison and then quickly swept through the garrison and military installations around it. He then sent an army south to occupy the Calm Sea, and then sent scouts to the capital to scout out the situation. He then prepared to attack Wuqing and Tongzhou to intimidate Shen Yicheng.
On the same day, Xiao Ruxun had already taken down Xuzhou and was continuing to head north. His progress was already very fast. If he had not deliberately slowed down, his progress would have been even faster. However, he did not need such rapid progress at the moment.
Jiang Dahai's fifteen thousand soldiers on land could not take the capital. At most, he could intimidate them, make them realize their strength and their weakness, and thus accelerate the internal divisions and conflicts. There were always some things that Xiao Ruxun hoped that Shen Yicheng would do.
Reaping the benefits of the fisherman was the best.
Thus, Xiao Ruxun's order to Jiang Dahai was to take Tianjin as a base and maintain probing attacks, but not to advance too far in order to avoid provoking the capital, which might even put Jiang Dahai in danger.
As long as he stayed in Tianjin, Jiang Dahai would be a sufficient deterrent to tell Shen Yicheng that Xiao Ruxun was back!
On the evening of the twelfth day of the eleventh month, the capital received news that Xiao Ruxun's army had landed at Dagukou and was attacking Tianjin, numbering around twenty thousand. The garrison general of Tianjin immediately requested reinforcements.
Shen Yicheng, who had just pacified the civil strife and stabilized the prices of goods, turned pale with fright. He hurriedly ordered Da Yun to lead 20,000 troops to the Tianjin garrison to reinforce the defenders. At noon the next day, he received news from Da Yun.
The Tianjin garrison had already been breached, and the rebel army of the Xiao clan had occupied it. Da Yun was stationed at Wuqing, asking Shen Yicheng what to do next and whether or not they needed to recapture Tianjin.
Shen Yicheng was quiet for a very long time, and then he ignored Xiao Daheng's insistence on recapturing Tianjin and chose Liu Huangchang's suggestion. He ordered Da Yun to defend Wuqing, and at the same time, he dispatched 30,000 soldiers from the capital to defend Tongzhou.
"Tianjin is the gateway to the capital, so how can it fall into the hands of the enemy? The enemy is only twenty thousand. If we fight with all our strength, we can defeat them, recapture Tianjin, and cut off the threat on our flank. If we don't cut off the threat on our flank now, do we have to wait for that traitor Xiao's army to arrive, and we'll have to face enemies on both sides? "
Xiao Daheng did his utmost to argue.
Alas, Liu Huangchang vehemently objected.
"Right now, we only have thirty thousand elite soldiers under Da Yun and ten thousand in the capital. The rest are all soldiers of the garrison, and they won't be able to withstand a single blow. Even if we intensify our training, it'll be useless. If we use up our elite soldiers now, when that traitor Xiao arrives, we'll be helpless!"
"Are we just going to sit and wait for death?!"
Xiao Daheng angrily roared. "If we do nothing but sit and defend, once Xiao Ruxun's army arrives, we'll truly be finished! Grand Secretary, please immediately send soldiers to recapture Tianjin and then head south to exterminate that traitor Xiao Ruxun's army. Only this way can we win! "
Xiao Daheng's dream-like suggestion made Liu Huangchang want to laugh, but he was helpless. He had still said it. Just how laughable was this?
Shen Yicheng thought for a very long time, but he still rejected Xiao Daheng's suggestion.
"Right now is the time to concentrate our strength on defending the capital. We can't send our elite soldiers out to fight. We can only defend and can't take the initiative to fight! I'll immediately call over the soldiers from Shanxi and Datong, or even the soldiers from Yulin and Guyuan! In short, call over all that can be called! This old man is going to fight to the death with that traitor Xiao here! "
Shen Yicheng seemed to have made up his mind, and then he was about to write an order. He picked up a brush and dipped it in ink, but when he wrote, his hand kept shaking, so that the words he wrote were crooked. He was not satisfied with one piece, so he tore another one. He was not satisfied with another one, so he tore another one, but he was still not satisfied, so he continued to tear and tear.
He was not satisfied with any of them.
"Ah!"
Shen Yicheng roared and threw the brush and inkstone in his hand to the ground, looking extremely angry.
Xiao Daheng looked at Shen Yicheng's actions with a hint of despair in his eyes.
Liu Huangchang looked at Shen Yicheng's actions with a hint of ridicule in his eyes.
It seemed that the situation had reached a point of no return. The troops were exhausted, the provisions were exhausted, and Xiao Ruxun had attacked to their doorstep, but they didn't dare to attack and recapture the gate. They could only withdraw their troops to defend. Half a year ago, they still had the upper hand. How could the situation change so dramatically after half a year?
Where were the millions of soldiers in the world? Where were the thousands of capable generals? Where were the many loyal officials of Daming?
Where had they all gone?
Xiao Ruxun had fled the capital like a street rat, so he should have been in a sorry state. How could he have returned in such an awe-inspiring manner in just half a year?
Just what had happened in this period of time?
Shen Yicheng thought carefully, but he couldn't think of anything.
Xiao Daheng also thought carefully, but he also couldn't think of anything.
Liu Huangchang thought even more carefully and discovered a few clues, but he still couldn't think of anything important.
One could easily imagine that Xiao Ruxun's legendary offensive was not as complicated as they had imagined, but they couldn't think of the key to it.
Could it be that the people of the world wouldn't put up any resistance and would just surrender when the army arrived?
Daming, what about the army in the interior? What about the garrison? If they really couldn't do anything, couldn't they use the bailiffs and bailiffs of the county? Why couldn't they even stop him? Hadn't Daming won many battles in a row and had the strength of the country at its peak? Why had he suddenly become so weak?
Why was this happening? Just why was this happening?
Neither Shen Yicheng nor Xiao Daheng knew the answer.
In the end, the order was sent out. Liu Huangchang took up his brush and sent word that the soldiers of Shanxi's Datong and the four northwestern garrisons were being summoned. Of course, Liu Huangchang himself was extremely doubtful about how many soldiers he would be able to summon.
Or perhaps not a single person would come.
Right now, the only mobile force was Dayun's. If he really did wait for Xiao Ruxun's northern expedition army to arrive, the disparity in strength would be terrifying. There was simply no need to fight this battle. There was no suspense at all.
Since ancient times, wars to unify China had always been fought from the north to the south. The current dynasty's Emperor Taizu had set a precedent by fighting from the south to the north, seizing back Daming from the Mongolian Yuan dynasty. And now, Xiao Ruxun seemed to have created a legend in history, defeating the Imperial Court from the south to the north.
It had been a thorough defeat, a crushing defeat.
It had been such a defeat that Shen Yicheng couldn't even write an order.
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