"It must be done by His Highness himself." After giving Liu Sheng a teasing look, Zhang Fu slowly gave his answer.
Liu Sheng's smile suddenly solidified on his face.
"Is it appropriate to be lonely?" Although Zhu Gaochi has defended the city twice, he has never been personally conquered by a chariot. Hearing this, he felt both excited and a little uneasy. After all, winning or losing in a war is uncertain. If he loses to King Zhao, his prestige will be affected.
But it's time to sweep the floor.
"It must be your Highness." Zhang Fu emphasized again and said in a deep voice: "The foundation of King Zhao's rebellion this time is actually very shallow. The reason why he was able to get to this point was mostly because Emperor Daxing suddenly fell ill.
The situation was out of control, and he was the one who picked up the slack. But even so, King Zhao was driven out of the capital and retreated to Tongzhou. Now that he has gathered his men, although it seems to be aggressive, in fact, everyone inside has lost confidence, and no one can
I firmly believe that King Zhao will win the final victory."
"There are two reasons why the trees have not fallen and the hozens have scattered. One is inertia, and the other is because they are worried that once the army is defeated, their families will be destroyed." Zhang Fu wanted the future new king to take him seriously. Naturally, he could not hide his clumsiness at this moment and continued his analysis.
: "As long as His Highness's figure appears in front of King Zhao's army, their morale will plummet. Then His Highness announces that he will only ask the culprits and never threaten them, and their generals will lose control of their subordinates. At that time, our army may be all in one go.
, or it depends on the message, it’s all easy!”
"On the other hand, if His Highness had not appeared, the morale of King Zhao's army would have been barely maintained. If the siege failed, the morale of the enemy troops would rise sharply, and the morale of our troops would be low, anything could happen!" Zhang Fu finally said calmly.
He said in a loud voice: "Your Highness's personal expedition is the first and most critical step to secure the country!"
Zhang Fu's words, especially the last sentence, completely touched the heart of His Royal Highness. Zhu Gaochi pondered for a moment and nodded heavily: "Okay, I'll just follow the father-in-law's advice!"
Only then did Zhang Fu glance at Liu Sheng unintentionally. His meaning was very clear. You are too young to fight with me...
Liu Sheng could only look away bitterly...
Everyone knows that time waits for no one, which is why the prince's personal expedition was planned very quickly. The next day, Zhu Gaochi went north under the escort of 30,000 troops. Five days later, he reunited with the 60,000 troops of the original White Lotus Sect who had arrived earlier.
A grand swearing-in ceremony was held outside Dezhou City.
In order to express his gratitude to Tongzhou grain merchants, the prince invited representatives of grain merchants to participate in the swearing-in ceremony. The grain merchants were moved to tears and finally no longer felt sorry for the grain they had contributed.
As King Zhao and Zhang Fu expected, these grain merchants all went south with the grain. Naturally, there were people behind it. But this matter was too simple and not worth writing about. Because King Zhao acted too much
He was so high-profile that Jin Yiwei could easily find out who was on his front and who was behind him. After finding out these, with a simple analysis, he would naturally know that if King Zhao was frustrated in Beijing,
I will definitely retreat to Tongzhou before making other plans.
At the same time, we can also clearly know that the key to the success or failure of King Zhao's plan lies in the grain merchants of Tongzhou! Unfortunately, Wang Xian also had already set his sights on these grain merchants, because the Ming Dynasty was really short of food.
This was especially true in Shandong. Wang Xian simply could not afford the food and fodder for the army to set off, so the army was useless but empty.
After searching all over the north, only these powerful Tongzhou grain merchants can continuously transport the grain and grass from the land of plenty in the south to the north through convenient water transportation, then stock it in Tongzhou's granaries and sell it to the people of the capital at high prices. Yes,
These grain merchants didn't even have their own warehouses. They directly used the court's granaries to store grain. They didn't worry about being misappropriated by the court at all, because everyone from the warehouse minister down to the minister was bribed by them...
Therefore, when King Zhao inspected the Tongzhou granary before, the grain he saw was not temporarily seconded by the warehouse minister, but was originally stored there!
Under normal circumstances, it would be a daydream to ask these big grain merchants with their hands and eyes to donate grain. But these are not normal circumstances! Wang Xian sent someone to send a message to the grain merchants, telling them that their grain has been targeted by King Zhao!
If King Zhao succeeds in usurping the throne, he may still pay attention to his food. But if King Zhao fails, he will definitely retreat to Tongzhou and attack their food as soon as possible!
Although the big grain merchants were not intimidated, as merchants, what they care about most is the safety of their own property. In the spirit of trusting others with their possessions rather than trusting others with nothing, they all took out their own grains from the official warehouses and loaded them on ships.
Shipped out of Tongzhou. However, at this time, no one wanted to defect to the prince. After Wang Xian’s prophecy came true, the grain merchants discovered that King Zhao was really going to rebel in Tongzhou. They were all frightened. They knew very well that once King Zhao found
If they don't get food, they will definitely kill them to vent their anger. I'm afraid even if they hand over the food, their safety will not be guaranteed.
At this time, someone, under the instructions of Jin Yiwei, announced that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had arrived in Shandong and would launch the Northern Expedition immediately. He suggested that it would be better to donate grain to the Crown Prince. When the Crown Prince is firmly established, the income will be far greater than the income from selling grain!
In the hearts of the people, Zhu Gaochi was the best candidate to inherit the throne, and he had a reputation for benevolence and righteousness. How could the grain merchants be so shrewd that they could not understand such a simple account? They immediately responded positively, and almost overnight, the portable family
Daikou disappeared from Tongzhou City without a trace and went south to join the prince...
After the oath, the prince personally took command, with Anyuan Hou Liu Sheng as the vanguard, British Duke Zhang Fu led the middle army, Shandong Dudu Commander Tongzhi Liu Xin, Dudu Tongzhi Mo Wen led the left wing, Qingzhou Guard Commander Liu Jun, Dudu Commander Xu Huaiqing
Leading the right wing, the Jiaozhou Guards commander Liu Achou and the commander Erhei behind the palace, with a total of 100,000 soldiers and horses on each route, and the accompanying civilians totaling 200,000, marched towards Tongzhou in a mighty manner!
Wherever the army passed along the way, the common people were all greeting them with empty pots of food and greetings in the streets. The officials from all walks of life were also extremely respectful. The governor of the state personally led the officers and soldiers in the territory to be brave and brought their own dry food to join King Qin's army!
By the time they arrived in Cangzhou, the prince's army had swelled to more than 200,000. When they arrived in Tianjin, the number of troops swelled to 300,000. When they arrived in Langfang, the number surged to 400,000! Considering the logistical difficulties, His Highness the Prince persuaded many of King Qin's troops to return
the result of.
What is what the people want? This is what the people want! At this moment, the British Duke finally convinced Wang Xian's judgment that the prince must go north to put down the rebellion immediately. If he huddles in Jinan or retreats to Nanjing, he will definitely lose the people's support.
, where can we still have the invincible scenery that the people want now?
Zhu Gaochi was also secretly rejoicing. Fortunately, he listened to Wang Xian's words. If Zhu Zhanji had taken the lead, all the people in the world would have turned to his grandson! Although he was his biological son, there was no father or son in the Tian family.
Although His Highness the Crown Prince will never admit it, he is indeed his biggest threat...
In Tongzhou City, there are scouts who report every move of the Prince's Army to King Zhao and others at any time. But every report is a heavy blow to the confidence of King Zhao and others...
Hearing that the prince's army was rapidly expanding along the way, the officials everywhere surrendered immediately and fully cooperated to support the prince's Northern Expedition! Even the common people contributed the summer grain they had just harvested, actively joined the volunteers, and did their best to support the prince.
!
Under King Zhao, everyone's heart felt cold. In the face of this cruel reality, they could no longer deceive themselves and others. They could only admit that the prince was the common leader of the world, and that their group was just a group of rebellious people who were despised by the world...
…
Gradually, deserters began to appear, and then some officers led the organized army to escape. In response, Gao Zheng and others wanted King Zhao to promulgate the law of continuous sitting and curb this phenomenon through severe punishment. However, His Highness King Zhao's reaction
But it makes people confused. He just said, "If you don't firmly follow this king, let him go" and ignored him, let alone promulgated laws and regulations.
King Zhao ignored the absconders, but urged his subordinates to step up preparations for the enthronement ceremony. He wanted to become emperor in Tongzhou City! This made the generals very worried in private. They felt that the prince had lost hope, and there was always something wrong with him.
tendency.
When Liu Sheng's forward army arrived outside Tongzhou City, the absconding of King Zhao's army reached its climax. Hundreds of soldiers fled at every turn, and some surrendered directly to Liu Sheng. There were serious shortages of troops in the city, and rumors spread everywhere.
Morale was very low. Tian Zihe and others were worried about the overwhelming force of the prince's army, so they proposed to abandon Tongzhou and fight in the direction of Shanxi.
This proposal was echoed by many generals. Those who led the troops knew best that in terms of morality, military strength, momentum, and food, they were far different from the Prince's Army in all aspects. Sitting in Tongzhou was simply waiting for death. In this case, naturally,
Going away was the best strategy. However, this suggestion was severely reprimanded by King Zhao!
"When we leave Tongzhou, Zhu Gaochi is going to Beijing to ascend the throne!" King Zhao glared at Tian Zihe and others as if he were cannibals, "He will win! We will lose!"
"Your Highness, now is not the time to argue," Tian Zihe and others advised earnestly: "Let the prince go to Beijing. There is a lot of mess waiting for him to clean up. We still have a chance to breathe while we wait for him and the grandson in the capital.
If we have a falling out, we will have an opportunity!"
"Shut up!" King Zhao pulled out his sword and said hysterically: "Whoever dares to talk about running away again, I will kill him!"
"Your Highness..." Tian Zihe and others wanted to persuade him, but King Zhao actually struck out with his sword. Tian Zihe was shocked and just avoided the vital part, and hurriedly used his arms to block it. His right arm was chopped off by the sharp sword.
Blood spurted out, and half of his body became a bloody man.
The general next to him was shocked and hurriedly stepped forward to help Tian Zihe stop the bleeding. Tian Zihe closed his eyes tightly with a pale face, his face filled with sorrow that could not be greater than death.
"Whoever dares to shake the morale of the army will not just lose an arm!" King Zhao glanced at the broken arm on the ground, holding the bloody sword, and said with a strong voice.
"Your Highness, hey..." Liu Qiang and others had no choice but to support the crumbling Tian Zihe and retreat.