On August 12, Wang Chaohong personally led the Ninth Mixed Regiment to attack Nanjing, and took the city in just one day. Then the Ninth Mixed Regiment continued to maneuver, preparing to penetrate Changtai. At the same time,
The 1st Mixed Regiment and the 5th Heavy Artillery Battalion advanced forward and arrived outside Zhangzhou City.
Seeing that they were about to fall into a tight siege, the Ming army in Zhangzhou immediately abandoned the city and fled to Quanzhou.
However, such a good start made Wang Chaohong unhappy, thinking that what he wanted was not just Zhangzhou, he wanted to annihilate the five thousand puppet Ming bandit troops originally stationed in Zhangzhou.
But now, they have run away, and Wang Chaohong is naturally dissatisfied.
After capturing Zhangzhou in an almost bloodless battle, Wang Chaohong continued to lead his army to advance north, and his next target was naturally Quanzhou.
At this time, Yu Dayou, who was originally in Fuzhou, finally couldn't sit still and personally brought three thousand bandit troops to reinforce Quanzhou!
But as soon as he arrived in Quanzhou, he received news that almost made him collapse. Shaowu Mansion, which he regarded as the gateway to western Fujian, had fallen!
"How is this possible? The terrain of Shaowu Mansion is dangerous, and it is guarded by 5,000 bandits and 15,000 guardsmen. How could it be lost in just a few days?" After Yu Dayou learned the news, he looked in disbelief.
, he even thought that the messenger who came to report the news was lying!
The messenger who reported the news said with a sad face: "Master Qi, this is absolutely true. After Master Lin learned that Shaowu was lost, he immediately asked me to come and report the news!"
Lin Yingwen was a guard commander under Yu Dayou. He led two thousand rebel troops and tens of thousands of guardsmen to stay in the rear of Fuzhou. The reason why Yu Dayou asked him to stay behind for defense was naturally because he trusted this person.
After hearing this, Yu Dayou directly took the letter and read it carefully several times, confirming that it was indeed an autographed letter from the commander of Lin Wei under his command. The letter stated that Shaowu Mansion fell three days ago, and the total number of defenders was 20,000.
The army only brought back less than 10,000 people. Currently, these remaining soldiers are still in Nanping City in Yanping Prefecture. Lin Yingwen asked Yu Dayou to immediately lead his army back to Fuzhou to defend Fuzhou and reinforce Nanping. Otherwise, Fuzhou will be in danger and Fujian will be in danger!
After reading it several times, he still couldn't believe that the Shaowu Mansion, which he regarded as impregnable, had fallen so quickly.
There were 5,000 bandit-breaking troops and 15,000 garrison troops, and with the geographical advantage of Shaowu Mansion, the difficulty of conquering it was no less difficult than that of Yizhang, which is the junction between Huguang and Guangdong.
The defenders here dare not think about taking the initiative to attack, but if they hold on there should be no problem. Even if the puppet Tang rebel army gathers a large number of troops to attack and defend, it will not be impossible to defend for a few days, not to mention a few months.
, but you can always hold on for ten days and a half!
But now, Shaowu Mansion has been unable to hold on for several days. This shouldn't be the case!
What exactly is going on?
Naturally, Yu Dayou didn't know. The fact is very simple. It is said that Shaowu Mansion was captured by the 6th Infantry Division of the Tang Army, but in fact it is better to say that the Ming Army itself came to the door.
This result was not only beyond Yu Dayou's expectation, but actually Cai Erhu himself had not expected it. He was already preparing for a tough battle in Shaowu Mansion, and even made a lot of preparations in advance for this.
In order to conquer Shaowujian City, he shamelessly borrowed half of the heavy artillery battalion from Li Chunjing, with a total of six heavy howitzers for support.
But when they first arrived at Shaowu City, a major from the Intelligence Department came to their door, saying that their Intelligence Department had instigated a Ming military guard commander in the city to rebel. If the Sixth Infantry Division attacked the city by then, this
The guard commander will lead more than 3,000 guardsmen of his headquarters to open the gate of the city he is responsible for defending and welcome the army into the city.
At first, Cai Erhu was a little worried about the authenticity of the news, but after carefully checking the person's identity, he found that he was really a major from the Intelligence Department.
In the end, he had the mentality of giving it a try. If the city gate on the other side really opened, he would take the opportunity to rush in. Even if there was an ambush, he would not be afraid. When the time comes, he would let the heavy armored troops of the assault battalion rush in, even if there was an ambush.
Crush it directly.
If the city gate is not opened, nothing will be lost.
However, all Cai Erhu's worries eventually turned into nothing. When the Sixth Infantry Division began to attack the city, one of the city gates was opened as promised, and two groups of Ming troops could be seen near the city gate.
Fight.
What happened next was very simple. The assault battalion of the Sixth Infantry Division took the opportunity to enter the city, and then joined the main force to enter the city in large numbers. The Ming army in the city suffered a heavy blow and was instantly defeated.
Half of them abandoned the city and fled directly, while the remaining half were either killed or wounded or became prisoners!
The attack on Shaowu went so smoothly that Cai Erhu himself couldn't believe it, let alone Yu Dayou!
But now Yu Dayou still doesn't know that a general of the guards under him has turned over to the thieves, and he is also a high-ranking general like the commander of the guards.
And he didn't even know that the reason why the guard commander surrendered was partly because he was influenced by Qin Zhifu, the commander-in-chief of Nan'ao Island, and partly because he was unwilling to do so.
Why?
Because among the 20,000 Ming troops guarding the city, the 5,000 bandit-breaking troops are naturally the main force, and naturally receive the best treatment, but other guardsmen do not receive such good treatment.
Why do you eat better than I do when everyone is fighting together? You eat meat even if you have enough white rice every day, but I can’t even get enough of whole grains?
Of course, this kind of differential treatment is not a matter of one day or two. Even though they, the guardsmen, are unwilling to give up, their combat effectiveness is not as good as that of the bandits. Therefore, we must rely on these bandits to fight against the puppet Tang bandits.
On weekdays, when fighting against the puppet Tang rebels, the rebels were the main force. These guard soldiers usually escorted supplies and supplies in the rear and assisted in the defense of the city.
Naturally, there is not much concern about their lives in this kind of mission, so although the treatment is far inferior to that of the Bandit Breakers, they still tolerate it.
However, this time the puppet Tang rebels came to attack Shaowu City in large numbers. When the chief general in Shaowu City, Dai Wucheng, a deputy general under Yu Dayou, and several of his confidants discussed the strategy of defending the city, they believed that the rebel army was too powerful to rely on, and that the guards should first serve as cannon fodder.
Consume the strength, ammunition, etc. of the thief army, and then use the thief army as the core to defend.
It happened that this discussion was overheard by a low-ranking general outside, and he informed his immediate superior, the Guard Commander Bing Linxun.
After learning that the superiors actually planned to use these guard soldiers as cannon fodder to consume the rebel army's troops and ammunition, Bing Linxun could not hold back. He did not want to become cannon fodder and die in vain.
At this time, spies from the Military Intelligence Department of the Privy Council of the Tang Dynasty were spying on intelligence in the city, and were trying to instigate a rebellion against the Ming army in the city. One of them and Bing Linxun were interested in each other, and the other was interested in being a concubine, so the two sides quickly hooked up!
The result of this situation was that the Shaowu Mansion, which Yu Dayou thought could be defended for a long time, was not defended for several days and was attacked by the Tang Army.
Moreover, the 6th Infantry Division fought red here with very few casualties, only two to three hundred casualties!
Cai Erhu was naturally overjoyed to capture the Shaowu Mansion at such a meager price, and also killed, injured and captured nearly ten thousand Ming troops. That night, he reported the relevant information to the superiors, along with all the people involved in the battle.
Those who have meritorious service please take credit.
The contribution of the Intelligence Department cannot be denied. The Major of the Intelligence Department who presided over this matter is guaranteed to be promoted later, and Bing Linxun’s contribution will not be insignificant. Of course, the specific reward has nothing to do with Cai Erhu.
He just reports the relevant intelligence based on the facts. What the superiors do is the business of the superiors.
However, Cai Erhu guessed that even though the rewards received by Bing Linxun could not be compared with those of former Nan'ao Island Commander-in-Chief Qin Zhifu, he probably could not get away with the rank of a school officer, and there was probably no hope of a knighthood. However, the rewards such as gold and silver were probably
No less.
Cai Erhu's guess was not wrong. After Bing Linxun was arranged to be sent back to Zhaoqing, the Reporting Department of the Ministry of Rites naturally publicized the matter again, but the intensity of the publicity was not comparable to that of Qin Zhifu, the former Ming Dynasty's commander-in-chief of Nan'ao Island.
, and the final reward was to give this person the rank of Army Colonel, and then arrange for him to serve in the Ministry of Military Affairs.
In addition, other Ming army officers and soldiers who followed this man to rebel followed the same method as the more than a thousand Ming troops who rebelled against Nan'ao Island.
If officers are willing to continue joining the army, they will be awarded a military rank ranging from lieutenant to school officer, and then be arranged to study in a martial arts school, or simply be assigned a casual position. If they are not willing to join the army, they will be assigned a casual civilian position, even if they are not willing to serve as lieutenant in the Tang Dynasty.
Yes, they are also directly rewarded with gold and silver, and they can come and go freely.
Ordinary soldiers are even simpler. Those who are unwilling to join the army will be given travel expenses and dismissed. Those who are willing to join the army will have a very small number of physical fitness. Those who pass all conditions will be arranged to enter the new military camp for training and continue to join the army.
Those who were willing to serve the Tang Dynasty, but whose physical fitness was not up to par, were naturally unable to join the army. Instead, they were arranged to join militia teams in various places or serve as patrol police.
Compared to those prisoners, the treatment of these soldiers is extremely generous!
These arrangements were artistically handled by the Ministry of Rites' Chaobao Department, and small exaggerated propaganda was carried out to achieve the best publicity effect and strive for more Ming troops to surrender in the future.
However, these handling and reporting will happen in the future, and Yu Dayou doesn't know about it at this moment.
But no matter what, it is a fact that the Shaowu Mansion was lost. In this case, the Yanping Mansion will directly face the rebel army. Once the puppet Tang rebel army cannot be blocked in Yanping Mansion, the puppet Tang rebel army will directly enter Fuzhou.
.
what to do?
This is a difficult choice faced by Yu Dayou!
Yu Dayou locked himself in the room and thought about it for more than an hour before making a decision. He immediately led all the Ming troops in Quanzhou to quickly return to Fuzhou, and at the same time asked for help five hundred miles south of the Yangtze River!