Chapter 060: Great Sorrow and Great Joy, He Wants to Be Quiet
Zhu Yuanzhang failed to fulfill his promise this time because a heavyweight figure surrendered.
Hu Tingrui, the garrison commander of Longxing City, surrendered the city and the entire army.
Longxing City is Nanchang, Jiangxi Province in later generations. It is a transportation hub in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and has a very important strategic location.
Zhu Yuanzhang's "rocket" deterrence tactics were eventually seen through, and it was discovered that he had placed explosives at the city gate.
Although it is not known why the explosives are so powerful, as long as Zhu Yuanzhang and others are not given the opportunity to approach the city gate, the explosives will be useless.
Even if the explosives approached the city gate, it was winter and the weather was very cold. As long as they watered the ground in time, they could prevent the explosives from exploding.
If Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to use explosives to blow down the city wall, he could only send his death squad to rush up and detonate it.
But with only one or two people, they could not reach the city gate at all and could only blend into the army. Then many of Zhu Yuanzhang's own people would be killed.
In ancient times, important cities had moats. Upon noticing this, Chen Youliang immediately ordered the moats of the more important cities in his territory to be widened and deepened, making it more difficult for Zhu Yuanzhang to sneak up on the city walls.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang still had a way to get close to the city wall, he was reluctant to use human lives to build up explosives, so he delayed the siege and found the right opportunity to send the explosives to the bottom of the city wall in a fancy way.
They already knew the power of the explosive packs. No matter which section of the city wall, it could be destroyed with at most two explosive packs.
But the explosive packs Biaoer gave him were limited. Some were soaked by water, some were misdetonated, and some were wasted... By the time they arrived in Longxing, there was only one explosive pack left.
Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely worried. If the bomb failed to explode, he would have no choice but to attack Longxing City by force.
What made Zhu Yuanzhang even more worried was that the other party had already figured out the weakness of high explosives - that is, they were extremely unstable, and just a little bit of stimulation could cause high explosives to explode prematurely.
Each faction would plant spies in the other's city, and the fact that high explosives were manufactured in Yingtian was no secret.
They kept a close eye on the supply transport vehicles coming from Yingtian, and if they encountered a single vehicle that was heavily guarded, they would attack it regardless of the cost.
They didn't need to rob, they just needed to hit the vehicles with huge rocks, or set them on fire with rockets, or even dig up the road to make the vehicles more bumpy, so as to prevent Zhu Yuanzhang from replenishing the explosives.
Zhu Yuanzhang originally wanted to take the water route, but the naval forces of Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng were more powerful, making it more difficult for him to escort them.
So he wrote to Chen Biao, asking him to temporarily suspend the production of high explosives. Once the high explosives were used up, he would resort to a traditional offensive, which would allow him to win without relying on high explosives.
Chen Biao was also having a headache. Although he had figured out the formula for high explosives, his current deactivation of high explosives was not enough to make it safer and more convenient to use.
He felt a little regretful that he had used RDX directly in order to limit the use of explosives, which should not appear in this era.
But it would take at least a year or two to prepare other safer, less powerful explosives, which would not solve the immediate problem. Moreover, the remaining yellow gunpowder relied more on oil, so he had to find oil.
Oil was already being used in this era, but only as fuel. There were no oil fields near Yingtian Prefecture, and oil was difficult to transport, so Chen Biao couldn't find the right materials.
So Chen Biao has to continue to fight against RDX.
In the end, Chen Biao racked his brains but couldn't figure out how to fight to the end, so he just gave up and said that this was the state of the high explosive and that's it for now.
Anyway, his dozen or so explosive packs have already given Zhu Yuanzhang a significant advantage, so let Zhu Yuanzhang handle the rest himself. He is not a real immortal child, and he has done his best.
The explosive pack given by Chen Biao did give Zhu Yuanzhang a great advantage.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Longxing City at this point in history, and Chen Youliang had already fled Jiangdu, Chen Youliang's territory remained vast. Furthermore, Zhu Yuanzhang not only lost many soldiers, but many of . Although some territory was lost, the military strength was not greatly reduced.
Now, Chen Youliang only had a few important cities that were difficult to blow up with explosives. A few generals in the cities might have escaped, but most of the soldiers and low-level generals stayed and took the initiative to accept transformation.
Zhu Yuanzhang's military force grew larger and larger, and those who joined later seemed to be more loyal to Zhu Yuanzhang than the veterans, and they thought about how to die for Zhu Yuanzhang every day.
Even though they later learned that there was no divine thunder but only new explosive packs, their passion did not change at all. They even shouted that they wanted to hold the explosive packs and blow up the city gate for Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang was a little troubled by this group of overly excited soldiers, and he asked people to tell them to cherish their lives every day.
Although it is inevitable to lose lives in war, we should live well if we can. We should all strive to live to see the end of the chaotic times, when everyone has land to farm and clothes to wear.
After Zhu Yuanzhang's propaganda, the soldiers' enthusiasm seemed to cool down on the surface, but Zhu Yuanzhang walked around the military camp with his hands behind his back, and always felt that their suppressed enthusiasm seemed even more terrifying, and even his veterans were "corrupted".
Zhu Yuanzhang was so worried that his hair fell out in clumps, and he asked his staff to think about how to prevent the soldiers from getting too excited and passionate every day.
The staff also had a headache.
They only know how to motivate the soldiers, but the lord asks them to think about how to lower their morale? Lord, you are not that hard on people!
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, "With their fighting spirit so high, they can easily lose their judgment, causing unnecessary casualties. They may even disregard their commanders' orders, missing opportunities. On the battlefield, the more dangerous the situation, the calmer we must be. This applies to both commanders and soldiers."
The staff sighed. Their lord was right. They could only go back and figure out a solution, losing their hair along with him.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was in great pain, Chen Youliang was in even greater pain.
In the original history, when Zhu Yuanzhang forced him into a desperate situation, his military strength was greater than Zhu Yuanzhang's.
Now the number of troops he could use was almost equal to that of Zhu Yuanzhang. This was also based on the premise that Zhu Yuanzhang would divide the troops to defend different cities and would not commit all his troops.
Anyone who has a little understanding of the world situation can see that the decisive battle between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang is about to come.
Zhang Shicheng finally became a little nervous and stopped enjoying himself in Pingjiang City. He began to get his generals moving.
However, his generals had been "spoiled" by him, and if they were not given generous rewards, they would make all kinds of excuses and refuse to set out.
Zhang Shicheng was reluctant to part with so much gold, silver and treasures, so he kept bargaining with the generals.
Zhang Shicheng's staff were very worried.
At this point, why is my lord still holding on to those gold and silver objects?
In the end, Zhang Shicheng was reluctant to give up so much gold and silver, so he sent his younger brother Zhang Shixin to fight.
It just so happened that Zhang Shixin had been presiding over a work-for-relief program, but had cut corners in distributing food to the poor, sparking unrest among the poor. Zhang Shicheng had no choice but to switch the work-for-relief program back to providing porridge, which displeased his subordinates. Zhang Shicheng thought it would be a good opportunity for his younger brother to perform meritorious deeds and restore his reputation.
But as expected, Zhang Shixin suffered another defeat.
Zhang Shicheng had no choice but to bargain with his generals again.
Zhang Shicheng's staff were at a loss for words. Some even considered quitting. However, because Zhang Shicheng had a reputation for heroism and righteousness, and knew they were not in dire straits, they gritted their teeth and persevered.
Although Zhang Shicheng's position was in a mess, it still caused some trouble for Zhu Yuanzhang. In addition, there was only one explosive pack left, Chen Youliang was still alive, Hu Tingrui had sufficient troops, and Longxing surrendered, which reduced a lot of trouble for Zhu Yuanzhang.
So Zhu Yuanzhang had to give up his plan to return to Yingtian and go to Longxing to accept the surrender in person.
Zhu Yuanzhang changed Longxing to Hongdu, giving Hu Tingrui face and allowing Hu Tingrui to retain his position without having to undergo labor reform.
However, Hongdu's strategic location meant Hu Tingrui could no longer defend it. Zhu Yuanzhang gave Hu Tingrui some time to appease his generals, pack his belongings, and hand over Longxing to Zhu Yuanzhang's adopted son, Zhu Wenzheng, after the winter.
It is worth mentioning that Zhu Yuanzhang had established the Grand Marshal's Office, but Zhu Wenzhen failed to become the Grand Marshal.
Because Zhu Wenzheng himself reminded Zhu Yuanzhang that he was now an adopted son and Chen Guorui's eldest nephew. If Chen Guorui's eldest nephew became the Grand Commander, Chen Guorui's achievements would surpass his master. Given Biao'er's intelligence, he would definitely be worried to the point of not being able to eat.
Zhu Yuanzhang almost forgot that Zhu Wenzhen "was not Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest nephew", so he finally closed his eyes and chose Xu Da as the Grand Commander.
Xu Da was speechless: "Aren't you afraid that my achievements will surpass yours? Can you let Chen Guorui be the Grand Commander?"
Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "Don't worry. When your achievements surpass your master and I kill you, I will make Biao'er smash the pot and burn paper for you."
Xu Da: "...Thank you so much!"
Today, Xu Da is still furious with Zhu Yuanzhang, and secretly prays that Biaoer can find a way to torment his boss and help him get revenge .
Hu Tingrui was very moved and said with confidence that he would be able to handle the Hongdu issue.
Zhu Yuanzhang calculated the time and found that he could still make it to the end of the New Year, so he and Ma Xiuying hurried back to Yingtian to make up for the New Year.
In February, Zhu Yuanzhang returned to Yingtian.
Before Chen Guorui's vest had even warmed up, several bombshell news came one after another.
After Hu Dahai captured Yanzhou, Miao generals Jiang Ying, Liu Zhen and Li Fu surrendered.
Hu Dahai admired the bravery of these three men and wanted to recruit them as generals. However, the labor reform was under the jurisdiction of Chang Yuchun, who was in the process of making trouble and saying that they could only become generals after they were reformed.
Hu Dahai even had a fight with Chang Yuchun over this. Zhu Yuanzhang wrote a letter to mediate and eventually exempted the three from labor reform. Hu Dahai took them back to Wuzhou.
As a result, the three of them conspired to cause chaos and rebel.
Zhu Yuanzhang was trembling all over: "Something happened to Hu Tongfu?!"
The messenger shook his head. "No. Although they didn't undergo labor reform, their subordinates did. When they learned of their rebellion, they immediately reported it to General Hu, who promptly dealt with the rebellion, but the three of them escaped. The problem now is that General Hu is hugging General Chang and crying bitterly, saying that he almost let his master down and that his ideological awareness was not enough, so he asked to be sent to a labor reform camp."
Zhu Yuanzhang: “…”
Zhu Yuanzhang said indifferently: "Oh. What else?"
The messenger said, "Miao generals Li Jiezhi and He Ren of Chuzhou have also rebelled and are also planning to join Zhang Shicheng."
Zhu Yuanzhang began to tremble again: "Geng Defu is okay!"
Although Geng Zaicheng was not Zhu Yuanzhang's fellow villager, he defected to Zhu Yuanzhang when Zhu Yuanzhang first joined the Haozhou Red Turban Army and was still a small team leader. He was Zhu Yuanzhang's trusted general.
The messenger had a strange expression on his face. "Li Jiezhi and He Ren were also reported by their subordinates. General Geng also claimed that he shouldn't have disobeyed General Chang and that he should also go to labor reform."
Zhu Yuanzhang: “…”
He wanted to be quiet after experiencing great sorrow and joy.
