Chapter 142: Yingchang Shangdu easily wins
On the day Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, in addition to those who attended the ceremony, there were also people who maintained order. Naturally, his most trusted adopted sons were sent out to maintain order.
Lan Yu rose from a junior general to a deputy general under Chang Yuchun, but he always kept a low profile. His status was not high enough to appear at such a solemn ceremony, so naturally no one took him seriously.
Therefore, when the four left Yingtian, even Zhang Chang, who had received a letter from Kuyuk Timur and was keeping a close eye on a powerful general under Zhu Yuanzhang, did not pay attention to the whereabouts of the four.
However, this was also because Zhang Chang was exposed in advance, so Zhu Yuanzhang and others had already played him together.
Now the four of them put on their armor and arrived at their respective battlefields.
They weren't the only ones. All the generals under the four were young generals, most of whom had been adopted sons of Zhu Yuanzhang. For example, Zhu Wenzheng had once stolen the young Chen Biao to show off, and He Wenhui, Hua Wenxun, and Chai Wengang were also in the army.
Many of them were already over 30 years old, but they were still young generals under Zhu Yuanzhang. After all, most of those who followed Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the world were in their 40s and 50s, not yet at retirement age, not even old enough to call themselves "veterans".
If Zhu Wenzheng was not Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew and Li Wenzhong was not Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew, these two would not have had the opportunity to become the main generals.
Just like no matter how talented Chen Biao was, he was not the crown prince "Zhu Da" of the Ming Dynasty, and it was impossible for him to become a prefect or a commander-in-chief.
But don’t underestimate these “young generals”; they are not necessarily worse than the “big generals” in their prime when it comes to fighting.
For example, Lan Yu was not Zhu Yuanzhang's adopted son, but he bypassed Zhu Yuanzhang's other adopted sons to become Zhu Wenzheng's deputy general.
Zhu Wen was on the road when he said sarcastically, "My adoptive father said I have a straightforward temper and asked me to find someone with a kind temper and a thoughtful mind to be my deputy general. Why is it you?"
Lan Yu was speechless. He also felt that His Majesty was playing a trick on him.
Who doesn't know that he and Zhu Wenzheng are "unfamiliar through fighting"? In their two fights, the first time he was in the wrong and deserved the beating; the second time, he was beaten unjustly.
However, this was not a big deal, and there was no grudge between the two. After the second fight, the relationship between Lan Yu and Zhu Wenzheng improved a lot, and they felt that they had forgotten their grudges.
But the problem was that after Lan Yu was accepted as an anonymous disciple by Ye Zheng, he followed Ye Zheng to study and cultivate his character. He was also a top-notch military talent, and he also learned Chang Yuchun's ability to cultivate land and pacify the people (Chang Yuchun:... I don't have this ability, I only have the ability to fight, goodbye!), and was quite loved by Zhu Yuanzhang.
So every time Zhu Yuanzhang beat Zhu Wenzhen, he would say, "Can you learn from Lan Yu! Lan Yu used to be even worse than you, but now he has become so outstanding!"
Zhu Wenzheng was also very talented, but also very proud. Zhu Yuanzhang often pointed out to him, "Other people's children, Lan Yu, are so and so good." Of course, he looked at Lan Yu's nose as not a nose, and his eyes as not eyes.
This guy was also very childish. He kept staring at Lan Yu, and whenever Lan Yu got hurt, made a mistake, or fell ill, he would write letters mocking her for being a weakling.
Lan Yu: ???
You... cough, what's wrong with you, boy? !
Lan Yu was speechless at the critical moment, but he also tried to put aside their inexplicable conflict: "You are the commander-in-chief, I will listen to you. As long as you don't let me die, I won't give you any advice."
Although Zhu Wenzhen was mentally ill, Lan Yu trusted his commanding talent very much, so he was too lazy to argue with Zhu Wenzhen.
Zhu Wenzheng cursed: "Are you looking down on me?"
Lan Yu: "Huh?"
Zhu Wenzheng said, "You lead an army as the vanguard! I'll go around the rear! Let's see who captures Shangdu first. It's settled!"
Lan Yu: "No, this..."
Zhu Wenzheng waved his whip: "This is an order!"
Lan Yu: "Yes..."
Although there was nothing wrong with doing so, and it would be better if he had autonomy, he once again firmly believed that Zhu Wenzheng really should find a miracle doctor to treat his illness.
Compared with the attack on Shangdu, the attack on Yingchang was very methodical and peaceful.
Li Wenzhong: "Aying! Don't rush so fast! Yingchang won't be conquered that easily!"
Chen Ying: "Follow me!"
Li Wenzhong: "What the hell are you doing with your musket team? Huh? When did you switch to long spears?!"
During the attack on Yingchang and Shangdu, some unprofessional incidents occurred. However, the Yuan army in Yingchang and Shangdu were beaten and fled by this group of young and playful generals, and they did not notice that they were "unprofessional" at all.
The cities of Yingchang and Shangdu are strong, and the Yuan army refused to come out of the city. With the current logistics of the Ming Dynasty, it would cost a lot to capture Yingchang and Shangdu.
After losing a bet, Zhu Yuanzhang, Xu Da, and Chen Biao resorted to a "luring the snake out of its hole" strategy, deliberately spreading false information to lure the Yuan army away from Yingchang and Shangdu. Once the Yuan army left their tortoise shells, the Ming army met them head-on.
The Mongolian cavalry that once dominated the world, like the crumbling remnant of the Yuan Dynasty, was defeated by the brave young generals of the Ming Dynasty.
Especially the army of Shangdu, which surrendered as soon as it met the Ming army, which made the vanguard Lan Yu look very bored.
Lan Yu asked the surrendered generals and learned that after returning to Shangdu, the Yuan Emperor was worried that Bolo Temur, who had protected him when he left, would have military power and threaten his rule as the emperor who had lost the Yuan Dynasty, so he sent someone to assassinate Bolo Temur.
The general currently leading Bolo Temur's troops was a Korean relative of Empress Ki. Therefore, when the soldiers heard about the recovery of Dadu and the favorable battle, they were quite obedient. However, when they saw that they were surrounded by the Ming army, their morale instantly dropped.
Lan Yu looked at the Goryeo general who was hacked to death by the Yuan army deserters. He was silent for a while, unable to tell what he felt.
"Biao'er once joked that the lesson people learned from history books is that they never learned any lessons at all." Zhu Wenzhen, who had reunited with Lan Yu, said half-jokingly.
When he saw that Lan Yu really had the ability, he stopped being sarcastic to Lan Yu.
Lan Yu said calmly, "He refuses to change despite repeated admonitions."
Zhu Wenzheng sighed, "We've successfully let the tyrant escape. Alas, even though I know that the longer a tyrant like this lives, the more time our Ming Dynasty will have to recuperate, I still almost couldn't resist taking his head."
The Yuan Dynasty was destroyed, but Mongolia was not.
The Yuan Dynasty was corrupt, but the Mongolian tribes on the grasslands remained strong.
The Yuan Dynasty
This was Chen Biao's suggestion, and Zhu Yuanzhang said Biao was right.
"Aren't you good at comforting the people? Go appease the officials and palace ladies in Shangdu. I'm impatient to deal with these things." Zhu Wenzheng stretched and looked at the setting sun on the grassland. "First, go back to Yingtian and report to my adoptive father. Then you can stay by Biao'er's side in peace."
Lan Yu: "...Yes." Although he was speechless about the lazy commander, it was just a matter of throwing all men, women, young and old into a labor reform camp to work, which would not take much energy, so Lan Yu was too lazy to argue with Zhu Wenzhen.
Zhu Wenzhen's situation ended easily, and the same was true .
The Yuan prince had no idea how to lead an army in battle, but he thought he could, and personally led the Yuan army in Yingchang south to attack Gansu.
Chen Ying held a long spear and aimed at the Yuan prince's canopy. The moment the Yuan army saw the chaos in the Ming army, he led only a hundred people and went straight for the Yuan prince's canopy.
The Yuan prince, who was riding in a carriage heading south to fight, was so frightened that he immediately snatched the attendant's horse and turned around to flee, leaving Yingchang's Yuan army behind.
The prince ran away, and the army was leaderless. The 20,000-strong army was thrown into chaos by Chen Ying's 100 men.
Li Wenzhong immediately led his troops to encircle and easily defeated the 20,000-man army.
But by the time they arrived in Yingchang, the Yuan prince had already abandoned his wives, concubines and children and fled north.
Li Wenzhong was quite speechless: "He is not good at fighting, but he escapes so quickly that even his shadow can't be seen."
Chen Ying swung his spear, shaking off the blood on it. "That's perfect. It saves us from having to think of a way to secretly release him."
Li Wenzhong laughed and said, "Even if I let him go, I still regret not leaving him with any injuries. He got away with nothing at all. Alas, why are the Yuan army so weak?"
Chen Ying nodded: "Not only are there no heavy cavalry, but even half of the people don't have horses."
When talking about the Mongols, the first thing that comes to mind is cavalry, especially heavy cavalry. But half of Ying Changyuan's army was actually infantry.
Chen Ying didn't understand why the Mongols had become so weak, but it was good enough that they won.
He let out a long sigh, holding his spear and looking towards the direction of Peking.
Li Wenzhong rode alongside Chen Ying, also looking towards Beiping. "That jerk Zhu Wenzheng is fine, but Biao'er should have won easily, right?"
It's not easy to win the bid.
If Chen Biao heard what Li Wenzhong and Chen Ying said, he could immediately explain to them why the Yuan army became weaker.
Although the Mongols were famous for their cavalry, their armor was very expensive. Even during the heyday of the Yuan Dynasty, the number of heavy cavalry that could be called cavalry would never exceed 300,000.
With these 300,000 heavy cavalry, the Mongols were able to roam across the Eurasian continent.
As the Yuan Dynasty declined, the Mongols could only maintain fewer and fewer cavalry. After years of natural disasters and peasant uprisings, the Yuan emperor unjustly killed Toghto, leading to the collapse of the central army. The Yuan Dynasty's cavalry basically fell into the hands of separatist warlords.
Now there are only two Mongolian cavalry remaining in the Central Plains of the Yuan Dynasty, one belongs to Kuyuk Timur and the other belongs to Bolo Timur.
Most of Bolo Temur's cavalry were lost due to the defeat in Peking. The remaining scattered trusted generals fled or surrendered without a fight because Bolo Temur was assassinated. Zhu Wenzhen and Lan Yu hardly encountered any tough opponents.
Even without armor, the Mongols generally brought their own horses, so it shouldn't be difficult to assemble a light cavalry unit. During the heyday of the Yuan Dynasty, each Mongol soldier even had three or four horses.
However, because the Yuan Dynasty still governed the Mongolian civilians under the "slave system", that is, the tribal herdsmen were the property of the nobles. When the Mongols served in the army, just like the "knights" recruited by the feudal lords in Western Europe, they had to bring their own horses and weapons.
After the Red Turban Rebellion, due to repeated battles, the Mongolian soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and the horses also suffered heavy casualties. A large number of herdsmen fled north and west.
Although the Yuan prince could still recruit soldiers, he could no longer recruit horses in their prime. If he had sufficient cavalry, he would not have been frightened into abandoning his army and fleeing north when Chen Ying, with his hundred men, rushed to the front of the Huagai.
In addition to explaining why the Battle of Yingchang and the Battle of Shangdu were easily resolved, the above explanation also clarifies a fact - the last complete heavy cavalry of the Yuan Dynasty is now on the battlefield of Tongmo Town.
