Chapter 356: Duke Cheng came to our door, let’s do it big
"Grand Governor."
After Hong Yuanfeng reported the movements of the Fuxing Army, he talked about another matter, "Our informant in the capital sent back some very puzzling information."
"I don't know what the hell happened to Duke Cheng, Zhu Chunchen, this time. He actually asked for permission from His Majesty to lead 100,000 soldiers from the Five Military Commandery out of the capital and head south to Lu Xiangsheng's camp in Yongning Prefecture, preparing to personally serve as the commander-in-chief and be responsible for destroying Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army."
"This guy, didn't he take the wrong medicine?"
"He has never led troops to fight outside, but he is so enthusiastic about wiping out a group of rebels?"
Ever since receiving this incredible information, Hong Yuanfeng has been a little confused.
When did Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, who was only interested in greed and would do anything to make money, become so concerned about state affairs?
If we were to ask which regular army in the Ming Dynasty was the most serious in drawing empty salaries, it would undoubtedly be the Beijing Army of the Five Military Commandery led by Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen.
On the surface, the Five Military Commandery has a staff of 500,000 people, but now it is lucky to have 50,000 qualified soldiers.
Moreover, these 50,000 qualified soldiers could not even provide each of them with a spirit beast warhorse.
It is conceivable how lax the military preparations of this Beijing army were.
If it weren't for the three major camps led by Duke of England Zhang Zhiji stationed in the capital, the defense would be useless.
"Fifty thousand of the 100,000 soldiers are elite soldiers, composed of the servants and guards of the Duke Cheng's mansion. It looks like they are coming out in full force!"
Hong Yuanfeng was amazed, "What kind of deep hatred does this Duke Chengguo have with Li Dingguo?"
"Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to do something so uncharacteristic."
"And Duke Cheng has always been very good at disguising himself. He is clearly a drunkard, but Your Majesty and most of the officials and gentry have mistaken him for a talented general who is both civil and military, and have given him strong support."
"He led his troops out of the capital to suppress the bandits this time, and they received sufficient supplies of food and fodder."
"I heard that the wealthy and powerful people in Jin Province are preparing to raise a large amount of money and food supplies to Yongning Prefecture City, allowing Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen to use them, hoping that he will wipe out Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army as soon as possible."
"I have to say that the title of Duke Cheng is still very intimidating nowadays."
Hong Yuanfeng finally sneered, his words full of disdain.
Others don’t know that he is now in charge of the intelligence of the Three Border Governor’s Office, so naturally he knows the truth about some civil and military ministers in the court.
Although Zhu Chunchen had a very good bloodline talent and abundant resources for cultivation, he only broke through to the initial level of level five three months ago. One can imagine to what extent his own cultivation had been neglected.
If it weren't for the nourishment of various rare treasures, Zhu Chunchen's body would have been drained by his debauchery long ago.
"Yuanfeng, there is a reason for Duke Cheng's unusual behavior this time."
Hong Chengchou knew some inside information and said to Hong Yuanfeng, "When I was the governor of Yansui Town, I learned about the feud between Li Dingguo and Chengguogong through the chief steward."
"Wasn't Liujiabao, northwest of Dingbian City, massacred by Li Dingguo when he first left the border?"
"Jiang Jufang, the wife of Liu Yicai of Liujiabao, is not only one of the masterminds of Chengguo Mansion, but also has an unclear relationship with Chengguo Duke Zhu Chunchen."
"I don't know what kind of charm Jiang Jufang used to make Duke Cheng Zhu Chunchen so obsessed that Jiang Jufang even went to the other courtyard in the capital every year to meet with Zhu Chunchen for a month. The relationship between the two lasted for several years."
"It was not until the fall of Liujiabao that this relationship was severed."
"Zhu Chunchen was furious when he heard about Jiang Jufang's death. He has sent a large number of people to investigate the truth over the past three years. It is not difficult to trace the truth to Li Dingguo."
"Now he is here to avenge his lover."
"From this, we can see how clever Jiang Jufang's methods were. Even until her death, Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen still remembered her."
"Zhu Chunchen now sees that Lu Xiangsheng and I are attacking Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army from two directions. He, who knows nothing about military affairs, thinks that it is almost certain that Li Dingguo will be wiped out this time. So he wants to come here to take revenge and share a share of the great achievements to increase his qualifications."
"According to inside information, Duke Yingguo Zhang Zhiji has gone insane due to his practice and is expected to die soon. Your Majesty is likely to let Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen be the governor of the Beijing camp."
"Once the power of the Beijing Camp falls into Zhu Chunchen's hands, the defense of the entire capital will be decided by Chengguo Zhu Chunchen from now on."
"Given his greedy nature, he will undoubtedly make a fortune again."
"In this way, the Beijing Camp, which still has some fighting power, will be destroyed."
"Ha ha……"
"The entire court of civil and military officials fooled His Majesty around and wove him a beautiful dream of the Ming Dynasty's revival, but the reality turned out to be the exact opposite!"
Having said this, Hong Chengchou shook his head and stopped talking about this unpleasant topic.
In fact, Hong Chengchou still hoped that the Ming Dynasty could be revived. Then he would have the opportunity to gain both fame and fortune, and it would not be impossible for him to become a regent in the future.
Hong Chengchou has this ability, but the problem is that Your Majesty has to understand it.
He represents the interests of the southern gentry, but it is not easy for him to remind His Majesty. Anyway, the reminder may not be useful, but will only bring him trouble. It is not impossible for him to be dismissed immediately and go home.
There is no doubt that this is a dead end and there is almost no possibility of solving it.
"Grand Commander, if that means that Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen is in charge of supervising the army, then Lu Xiangsheng's Eastern Army will probably be abolished soon."
Hong Yuanfeng's mouth twitched as he said, "Originally we still had a 30% chance of winning and could wipe out Li Dingguo within the next few years, but now it seems that there may be no hope."
"Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen is undoubtedly a guy who is more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything!"
"His arrival apparently increased the combat effectiveness of Lu Xiangsheng's Eastern Army, but in reality, it hindered their progress!"
"Once he leads Lu Xiangsheng's Eastern Army to fight against Li Dingguo, he will most likely interfere and cause trouble. It is foreseeable that he will suffer a series of disastrous defeats."
"I didn't expect Li Dingguo to be so lucky. The court arranged a good move, but he tied his own hands like this."
"Ah! If Li Dingguo can destroy Duke Cheng this time, it will also reduce a real scourge for the Ming Dynasty. Maybe it can last a few more years."
The court could have sent anyone else, but they chose to send the good-for-nothing Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo. It's so frustrating that it makes people want to vomit blood.
"Yuanfeng, your vision is still a little lacking."
Hong Chengchou patiently taught his trusted general, saying, "In fact, the Eastern Route Army sent by Duke Chengguo to supervise Lu Xiangsheng will have little impact on the future war situation."
"On the contrary, due to Zhu Chunchen's arrival, the Eastern Route Army will receive more financial and food supplies from the three northwestern provinces, and will be more well-equipped."
"Given Duke Cheng's greedy nature, it would be strange if he didn't take the opportunity to extort a lot of money when he got to the place."
"In order to allow the government troops to successfully wipe out Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army, the aristocratic families, wealthy merchants and tycoons in the three northwestern provinces will grit their teeth and endure even if Duke Chengguo's demands are excessive, and meet all the demands put forward by Zhu Chunchen."
"The tactics that Li Dingguo's Fuxing Army has always adopted is to use the fast to defeat the slow, and concentrate superior forces to destroy the enemy. It has little impact on us."
"The final decision on the outcome of this round of war will still depend on the hard power of both sides."
"No matter how greedy Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen is, he will cooperate with Lu Xiangsheng in order to completely destroy Li Dingguo and his Fuxing Army."
"After all, he is just incompetent, not stupid."
"Not only is he not stupid, he is actually quite smart. He is just a little short-sighted. He still has some basic military qualities."
For someone like Zhu Chunchen, even if he has many faults, he still has a good background!
As one of the three great dukes of the Ming Dynasty who shared the same destiny with the country, even Hong Chengchou did not dare to offend him.
The Chengguo Mansion has accumulated thousands of years of heritage, and this is no joke.
The 30,000-strong black-clad guards maintained in the mansion of Duke Chengguo were one of the ten most famous death squad organizations in the Ming Dynasty.
I heard that there are over a hundred Qi Refining Realm masters, and more than half of them are soldiers at the peak of the Body Refining Realm. I wonder how many hostile forces they have dealt with for the Chengguo Mansion.
This time, Hong Chengchou suspected that among the 100,000 troops brought by Duke Chengguo, 30,000 of them were the Black Guards.
After all, Zhu Chunchen was very afraid of death. He had finally made it to the battlefield, so he would naturally try his best to ensure his safety. "Yuanfeng, the Tartars are about to enter the pass, we can't just wait like this."
"Tell the chief steward, Hong Bo, to immediately send people to Northern Zhili to receive the money, food, supplies, and treasure ships sent by the aristocratic families and make preparations for the early stages."
Hong Chengchou gave the order, "Send out all our military intelligence personnel, draw up detailed maps of the planned ambush locations, and then closely monitor the central army led by the brothers Dorgon and Duoduo who are about to enter the pass. I want to keep track of their army's movements at all times!"
"This time, I must bite it until the oil comes out. I want to taste the taste of fame and fortune for the first time!"
If this war is won, it will be a great thing for Hong Chengchou and the southern gentry forces behind him.
This means that the Southern Gentry Alliance now has a strong man with a large army who can even defeat the Tartars. From then on, they will benefit greatly from all kinds of tangible and intangible benefits.
Hong Chengchou was able to become famous throughout the world and leave his name in history, achieving one of his greatest pursuits in life.
In order to achieve this goal, Hong Chengchou has made up his mind to fight this war with all his strength.
"Yes! Grand Governor!"
Hong Yuanfeng was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately took his leave and started working intensively.
……
"Great Commander!"
In the meeting hall of the City Lord's Mansion in Baode Prefecture, Wei Jinfan reported the sudden military situation to Li Dingguo who had just arrived, and asked, "Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen led 100,000 soldiers and stationed in Yongning Prefecture three days ago. Will it cause trouble?"
"This guy doesn't have any sense of national justice in his heart. As long as the benefits are sufficient, nothing is too great to sell out."
"We can't overestimate this bastard's moral bottom line. He is capable of anything."
"If, at this critical moment when we are in a decisive battle with the 800,000 soldiers led by Huang Taiji, Duke Chengguo ignores the overall situation and directly leads his troops to invade our territory, it is very likely to cause unimaginable consequences."
"Although the combat effectiveness of the 100,000 soldiers of the Beijing Camp is not very good, they have 50,000 elite guardsmen raised by the Chengguo Mansion with a huge amount of resources. They are fully equipped with spiritual weapons and have hundreds of Qi Refining Realm generals."
"Now our soldiers responsible for guarding Wubao and Shangpingguan each have a battalion of 20,000 new soldiers, and there are less than 20 Qi Refining Realm generals."
"Although we have the protection of the city defense formation, if the enemy does not attack the city and chooses to bypass it and go straight to the rear of the battlefield between us and the Later Jin Tartars to launch an outflanking operation against us, the problem will be very serious."
Wei Jinfan did not dare to take lightly the urgent military intelligence reported by the intelligence personnel stationed in the capital, and immediately reported it to Li Dingguo who had arrived at the front line.
Many key battles in history were destroyed by villains like Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen. The Fuxing Army must not repeat the same mistake.
"Humph!"
Li Dingguo was furious when he heard this and said in a cold voice, "Zhu Chunchen, that bastard, he actually led his army to our door even though we didn't have time to deal with him!"
"I'm going to make him pay for it this time!"
"Notify the Xuanwu First Battalion that they will not participate in the battle with the Later Jin Tartars this time."
"Have their large fleets gear up and set off immediately, sailing southwards, and firmly block the exit from Yongning Prefecture City to the east bank of the Yellow River!"
"No ship can be allowed to leave the river at any cost. Any fleet we encounter will be sunk!"
"You must tell Huang Zhanglong not to engage in close combat with the enemy, but to use the tactics of flying the kite, using the range advantage of our psychic cannons and psychic crossbow carts to attack the enemy fleet, and even drive back or sink the enemy ships!"
"Once I finish fighting Huang Taiji's army, I will go to support him immediately."
"When the time comes, our fleet will rush directly into Yongning Prefecture City and wipe out the Beijing Camp army of Duke Cheng Zhu Chunchen in one fell swoop, and eliminate this bastard who comes here specifically to disgust people!"
Now is the eve of a great war with the Later Jin Tartars. The plan here has been arranged and it is difficult to make temporary changes.
No matter what, the most important thing is to defeat the army led by Huang Taiji first.
As for the disgusting Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, he just needs to let the large fleet of the Xuanwu Battalion use the advantages of their own psychic cannons and psychic crossbow carts to block the enemy's advance route by water.
After the victory of the Fuxing Army over the Later Jin Tartars, the army would march directly south, capture the Yongning Prefecture area in one fell swoop, and annihilate Zhu Chunchen and his 100,000 soldiers from the Beijing Camp.
Li Dingguo had long wanted to deal with this bastard Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo, but he just didn't have the chance before.
Now that he has come to me on his own initiative, he is undoubtedly seeking his own death.
The black guards under his command were quite capable in individual combat, but were completely unqualified in fighting in formation.
Any level five general in the Renaissance Army, leading an elite cavalry of 30,000 soldiers and forming a military formation, would probably be able to defeat the enemy in one round and not make any waves.
Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen was used to enjoying a good life and had no idea that the world situation today had undergone earth-shaking changes. Among human forces, there were more than one level six masters.
Once a master of this level leads tens of thousands of elite soldiers to form a military killing formation, the combat power they exert is extremely terrifying.
Even a peak level six dragon wouldn't dare to face it head-on, let alone a useless army like the Beijing Camp that hadn't been on the battlefield for a long time?
"Yes! Commander-in-Chief!"
Wei Jinfan immediately accepted the order and then reported a key piece of information to Li Dingguo, "The three Xuanwu battalions led by Pan Jinghua, together with the Suzaku Legion, formed a large fleet that secretly left the northern pass of the Yellow River at night a month ago, and yesterday they secretly arrived 3,000 miles upstream of the Yellow River outside the pass."
"They sent back a message via spirit pigeon saying that the fleet had successfully found an island in the middle of the river that was very suitable for hiding. They had quietly anchored in a large river bay and were hiding."
"When the army led by Huang Taiji arrives and officially enters the pass, they will quickly set out downstream at your command to block the retreat of Huang Taiji's army!"
"At that time, our plan of closing the door and beating the dog can be fully launched to encircle and kill Huang Taiji's army!"
"I guess Huang Taiji would never have thought that we still have this backup plan. By then, even retreating will be a luxury for them!"
"In the first wave, we will destroy the large fleet they have managed to gather here, and then see where they run to!"
"If they don't run away, it will be easier to deal with them. We have deployed heavy troops and guard formations in the fortresses and roads around them. Even if we trap them, we can trap them to death inside the pass."
"I wonder how many waves of concentrated fire attacks launched by our firearms battalion this Later Jin Tartar army can withstand?"
Wei Jinfan's words were very casual, but once the information contained in them was spread, it would probably scare a lot of people.
No one would have thought that Li Dingguo would be so bold this time, and he came with the purpose of annihilating the enemy completely.
Although it is difficult to achieve the goal of completely annihilating the enemy, there will be no problem in inflicting heavy losses on the army led by Huang Taiji.
This time, they fought against the 800,000 soldiers led by Huang Taiji himself, which was the strongest enemy the Fuxing Army had ever faced.
In the current Ming Dynasty, except for Li Dingguo's Fuxing Army, no force, including the imperial court, has the ability to confront the army led by Huang Taiji head-on.
These included Hong Chengchou's Qin Army and Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army.
The enemy this time is terrifyingly powerful. If the Renaissance Army can win, the various tangible and intangible benefits it will bring will be immeasurable.
Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army will soon become famous throughout the world and become a banner in the hearts of the Han people, enough to replace the banner of the Ming Dynasty's prestige.
It will also be subversive in inspiring the hearts of the Han people today.
This will have an immediate effect on the Restoration Army's rapid conquest of cities and expansion.
It is estimated that by then there will be quite a few government troops who will be frightened by the news, and there may even be a number of them turning against the enemy.
If the Restoration Army on the southeast coast also achieved a brilliant victory, it would definitely shock the world and cause an uproar.
By then, the east-west attack will be combined, and the great expansion of the Restoration Army on the southeast coast in the land of Qi and Lu can be launched immediately.
With the strength of the Restoration Army led by Wan'er, and with the power of victory over Yuetuo's army, it would not be too difficult to completely conquer the land of Qi and Lu.
After three to five years at most, the Ming Dynasty will be divided into two parts, the Fuxing Army and the Ming Dynasty.
At that time, Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army will officially step onto the stage of history and open a new chapter.
(End of this chapter)
