Chapter 386 Flying to Yuanzhou City
Some people were still saying weakly: Emperor Lin'an will send troops to rescue them soon, and then we will not only get money, but also rewards.
A few bandits laughed and said: Dream on, just dream sweetly.
These soldiers began to make their own plans. They quietly threw away their weapons, changed their uniforms, and sneaked out of the city to divide the land.
Zhao Yulin called for points, and everyone who turned a blind eye should register first.
Cao Youliang came back to report to him, and said somewhat helplessly that it was his poor command that led to the long siege of Yuanzhou, which brought shame to the Third Young Master.
Zhao Yulin invited him to drink and told him that it would not be a bad thing for the team to have more combat experience, as there would be many cities to attack in the future.
They ate and drank while chatting.
Zhao Yulin told him to have the Air Force's hot air balloons carry oil jars into the sky, sprinkle the flaming oil on the bunkers, and then ignite them with incendiary bombs to force all the enemies in the bunkers out.
As long as the bunker is taken care of, attacking the city will be easy.
When Cao Youliang heard that three new red cannons were sent to him, he was overjoyed.
Damn, even with all the Red Cannons, they still can’t take Yuanzhou City. What’s the point of fighting? He should just give up his job as the commander-in-chief.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that we still cannot be careless, and he should go back and make plans with his brothers before taking action.
The guy immediately said goodbye and ran away with the weapon of mass destruction.
In the small court of Lin'an, Zhao Bing learned that Zhao Yulin had personally rushed to Pingxiang on the west road of Jiangnan. He knew that Yuanzhou was already in danger and losing Jiangnan was only a matter of time.
He had no choice but to drink with a few of his close associates.
Watching Jiangnan being lost, he felt very incompetent and couldn't stop sighing.
The Minister of Revenue, who was in charge of the silver, told him quietly that the envoys were preparing a retreat. After the delegation that went to Chengdu to negotiate peace came back, someone told him that Xie Gong, who was arranged by the envoy, was there specifically to negotiate terms for Lin'an's submission.
When Zhao Bing heard this, he was shocked. He put down his wine glass and asked, "When did I ask anyone to talk about surrender?"
I was asking for tax silver from Chengdu, and never mentioned discussing surrender.
The Minister of Revenue immediately corrected himself and said: He thought it was the emperor's order to leave a way out.
Zhao Bing snorted coldly and said: Fall back? Where is the fall back?
I am always worried about the anti-Mongol plan and the food, clothing and expenses of the soldiers in the army. When have I ever thought about my own way out?
The eunuch who was close to him said cautiously: In the current situation, Prime Minister Shi must have thought that the Shenwei Army was about to attack and the court was about to collapse. In order to plan for himself, he must have instructed to discuss the future of Shi Jia.
The current situation in Lin'an is that Zhao Bing cannot defeat Shi's son, and Shi's son is not sure he can defeat Zhao Bing. The two sides are confronting each other in a city and maintaining a shaky small court.
However, Zhao Bing had not expected that Shi's son would openly make peace with Chengdu and discuss the aftermath.
It seems that he should also consider a way out for himself.
In fact, this guy had already been planning for his own escape route.
Zhao Bing had long ago sent out his trusted confidants to control the navy in Hangzhou Bay. There were five large ships with a capacity of over ten thousand tons, just in case of emergency.
After this night of drunken conversation, Zhao Bing intensified his investigation in Hangzhou Bay.
He would not be like his uncle and the previous emperor who rashly boarded and disembarked from the ship and fled in a panic, thus becoming a prisoner without knowing why.
Three days later in Yuanzhou, Cao Youliang was ready to attack the city.
Early in the morning, eight hot air balloons of the Shenwei Army took off and flew towards Yuanzhou City. Behind them was another hot air balloon fixed in the sky with three thick ropes. The artillery observation commander on it was looking at the city with a telescope.
Zeng Yaozu saw the hot air balloon flying over from the city wall and thought that Zhao Yulin really thought highly of him as he even sent out his newest heavenly army.
He snorted and shouted at the hot air balloon: What can we do if the Heavenly Army comes? Can they throw thunder bombs into his bunker?
"Everyone, take your positions."
Zeng Yaozu roared, and the soldiers on the city immediately hid in the bunker.
Zeng Yaoxian, who was standing at the gate of the yamen, was really shocked when he saw the huge hot air balloon flying over. Oh my god, is the Shenwei Army about to launch a general attack?
He immediately called on his men to provide support at the four gates.
The Shenwei Army's hot air balloon flew over the city gate and dropped cans of vegetable oil and kerosene. The soldiers guarding the city looked at the oil cans that exploded as they fell from the sky in shock, not knowing what they meant.
They saw clearly right away that a hot air balloon flying behind them had delivered incendiary bombs, which immediately ignited the city tower and the walls on both sides. The bunker was temporarily built by craftsmen using wooden beams as support and covered with wooden boards, and it was quickly ignited.
The city wall was very high, about seven or eight meters high. The wind from the top of the city helped the fire spread, and it burned in all directions, igniting their pine cannons and the gunpowder and kerosene . There were ghost howlings and explosions everywhere.
Not only that, the crackling flames also penetrated into the bunker along the oil pipeline, and the inside was full of fire. The soldiers with oil on their bodies immediately became burnt men. When these soldiers ran out of the bunker, they found that the ground was all on fire, and they had to jump off the city wall howling in despair.
Seeing the fire raging on the opposite city, Cao Youliang realized that it was impossible for the enemy to organize a resistance, so he immediately ordered the iron barrel cannon to rush up and blow up the door, and the red cannon to start working.
Immediately, the red cannons of the Shenwei Army, guided by the hot air balloons in the sky, fired at the government office in the city. One round of artillery fire set Zeng Yaoxian's government office on fire.
Then, the red-coated cannons bombarded the places where there were many reinforcements, so that Zeng's army dared not approach the city gate tower.
The Shenwei Army's iron barrel cannon bombarded the city gate fiercely. How could the wooden chevaux de frise used as an obstacle withstand the bombardment of the huge explosive packs? It was blown open in minutes and rushed in.
Seeing that the city gate was broken, Zeng Yaozu tried desperately to organize the militia to use the houses and shops on both sides of the street to block the attack, but it was all in vain.
As soon as the Shenwei Army entered the city, they immediately divided into teams of 100 and 1,000 men to launch the attack. The brothers had iron barrel cannons, mortars and various other weapons in their hands. How could the Zeng family army, which only relied on bows and arrows, swords and guns, resist?
The enemies quickly fled in all directions like birds and beasts.
Many ragged militiamen threw away their weapons, gathered together, raised their hands and shouted that they wanted to surrender. The Shenwei Army took advantage of the victory to advance and kept blowing the charge. The whole city was drowned in the shouts of the Shenwei Army.
When Cao Youliang saw the city gates wide open and the Shenwei Army rushing into the city, he was overjoyed and shouted proudly: Let's go, into the city, into the city.
His second brother Cao Youwan told him not to be too proud too soon, and to write a petition to the Ministry of War to review his mistakes and voluntarily accept the penalty of half a year's salary.
The third young master doesn't punish the third younger brother. Doesn't the third younger brother know that he is wrong?
The smugness on Cao Youliang's face immediately disappeared by half. He smiled unnaturally and said, "I understand. Let's go, second brother."
The main generals followed him into Yuanzhou City.
Three days later, Miao Gui, Cao Youwan and Cao Youliang returned to Pingxiang. Zhao Yulin asked Miao Gui why he came.
Cao Youliang immediately said that Brother Miao Shangshu was worried about his safety, so he got off the boat and rode his horse, coming over non-stop.
All the generals burst into laughter.
Zhao Yulin joked: Brother Youliang is really good at talking. If Brother Miao can't afford a horse, do you want him to run?
Everyone burst into laughter again.
He said: "After we take Yuanzhou, our mission to march to Jiangnan will be completed, and the next step will be defense. Of course, we will still accept those who are willing to surrender to us, and we don't mind killing those who dare to deceive us."
The generals laughed again.
Miao Gui told him that he had transferred Jiang Hai back to defend Ezhou and ordered the navy to deploy along the river, even the red cannon and the heavenly army were transferred away.
It’s still up to Second Brother Cao and Third Brother Cao to take care of this.
Zhao Yulin nodded and told Cao Youwan that there was no fighting in Guangnan East and West for the time being, so he asked him to leave 10,000 people with Youliang to guard Jiangnan West and gradually put these places in order.
Cao Youwan agreed immediately and told him that Zhou Ping asked him to bring someone back and asked the Third Young Master to take him back to Chengdu. With a greeting, a handsome young man with a dark complexion came running in from outside and shouted "Daddy" from five or six steps away.
Zhao Yulin took a closer look and found that it was Ma Yuan.
He stood up in surprise and took the child to look at him carefully, and said happily: Not bad, not bad, you have grown stronger. Why did you come to Jiangnan ?
The child said in a slightly childish tone that Uncle Zhou asked him to come just to see his father.
Zhao Yulin said seriously that once you join the Shenwei Army, you can't run around casually, because there are military disciplines. If his son can be undisciplined, then other children can also be unorganized and undisciplined, and the army will collapse.
Cao Youwan hurriedly said that it was he who gave the order, asking Ma Yuan to join his guard and come to Jiangnan . Now that they are here, can't the young master take a look?
He smiled and said that Uncle Cao was protecting the child, but he had to train him into an elite soldier, and forget about returning to Chengdu. He asked Cao Youwan to build a naval training camp in Fuzhou, and Ma Yuan was the first recruit, so that he could train a new generation of navy for the new Song Dynasty.
Cao Youwan said that he would make plans with Zhou Ping when he returned.
Zhao Yulin was very happy to see his son. He took off his hat and exchanged it with Ma Yuan, saying that he didn't bring anything with him when he went out, and the two men exchanged hats as a souvenir.
Ma Yuan happily thanked his father.
He patted the child on the shoulder and told him to get busy, then turned back to discuss military affairs with Miao Gui and others.
Zhao Yulin handed the draft of the army reorganization he had prepared in the past few days to Miao Gui and said: The troops still need to be properly divided. The troops in Jiangnan are expanding rapidly, but their main purpose is to maintain order and stop riots.
We will set up a Jiangnan Military Region to coordinate and dispatch these troops, with Brother Youwan as the commander-in-chief, and Brother Youliang and his military officers as deputy commanders.
These days he has inspected the course of the battle in Pingxiang. Although the scale of the Pingxiang battle was small, it can be seen that the guards under Cao Youliang have quick emergency response, clear minds, and decisive actions, and are talented generals.
He told Miao Gui that there was no need to build up the entire Jiangnan into a Shenwei Army. Places like Kuizhou Road and Guangnan East and West Roads did not need a powerful standing army at all, and the Ministry of War could not provide a large amount of military equipment to arm them at the moment.
We should still establish a garrison to maintain public order as we did in the past, build two to three columns to guard key areas, and cooperate with the battle in Jiangbei.
