Chapter 347 Conquer Taku! (Asking for monthly votes)
The circle of grain merchants in the capital is actually not very large.
Food is a commodity that is different from any other commodity. The reason is very simple. If you don't have food, you will die.
If there are ten people and the food sold is only enough for nine people to survive, then theoretically these ten people can raise the price to infinity for these nine portions of food.
Nowadays, the food in the capital has not reached the point where people are starving to death, but the price of food has risen to the point where ordinary low-level officials are desperate.
And food has another characteristic.
It will rot, mold, and be stolen by rats.
These characteristics allow grain merchants to spontaneously form a circle and form some kind of tacit primitive monopoly alliance.
The news of the release of the Li family merchants spread among the grain merchants almost instantly!
Just like when a flood breaks down a dam, it all starts with the cracks of an anthill.
Soon King Yu couldn't bear the pressure anymore.
After all, he is not the emperor. Even if he is the emperor, it is impossible for him to close the door to all these important ministers.
When Gao Gong, who was hiding in Prince Yu's palace, saw this situation, he quickly realized that his advice to Prince Yu had failed.
He let out a long sigh. His soft ears were both King Yu's shortcoming and his advantage.
If King Yu had the power and tactics of the one who took the throne at the beginning, he would have already accomplished the task of stabilizing the price of food in the capital.
It's a pity that the man on the throne used all his intelligence and talents for personal enjoyment, and instead became the country's biggest disaster.
Gao Gong quickly found another reason for King Yu, and it was because King Yu's status was not enough!
King Yu is not even the crown prince, and the emperor has not established a heir until now. How can such a status resist the entrustment of the powerful people in the capital?
If King Yu can become the emperor and have his own assistants, then this matter may be accomplished.
Gao Gong comforted himself in this way and stopped paying attention to the price of food in the capital.
For the Ming Dynasty, which was in turmoil, the price of food in the capital was just one of the problems, not even the most important one.
After these powerful people interceded, King Yu released all these grain merchants. As expected, the grain prices on the market began to "cut."
It's just that the price has dropped a bit, but there are more sand and pebbles in the grain.
When the people bought the grain and took it home, they had to sift out the sand and gravel. The lives of ordinary people in the capital became even more difficult.
The big grain merchants were out of control, and soon the government focused on ordinary merchants with no background.
After being caught, these ordinary businessmen went bankrupt one after another, and their property and food fell into the pockets of the hungry grassroots officials.
By mid-April, people were starving to death in the capital, and some people who really couldn't survive began to flee out of the city.
However, the imperial court soon stopped caring about "trivial matters" such as food prices. The Jiubian Jingqi, who had traveled all the way south, had arrived in Jining on April 20th.
Along the way, Li Chengliang insisted on writing letters to the emperor every day, talking about trivial matters during the march, but it gave the emperor a feeling of being in control of the army.
Li Chengliang became more and more favored by the emperor, and the emperor even issued an imperial edict in the capital to praise Li Chengliang. All this made Yang Bo, the head coach of the military affairs minister, very depressed.
Among the nine sides, the army belonging to Li Chengliang was the most undisciplined. Not to mention the nuisance, they often fought with other armies in the army and caused trouble.
Several times Yang Bo sent military judges to Li Chengliang's military camp to enforce the law, but in the end they were kicked out by the Liaoyang officers and soldiers who gathered together. Yang Bo summoned Li Chengliang for questioning. The man pretended not to know, like a loach, and said he wanted to go back to punish his family. soldiers, and then nothing more happened.
Because of this, the entire army became increasingly disorganized.
It is not easy to learn well, but it is easy to learn bad. When the authority of the commander-in-chief of an army is destroyed, it will be difficult for Yang Bo, who has no troops in his own army, to control the entire army.
This is not because Yang Bo is incompetent. Now that Li Chengliang is in the royal family, Yang Bo cannot operate on Li Chengliang.
The tiger couldn't hold it, so all the flies came to bite it.
Yang Bo also had a headache. Can such a unit really defeat the southeastern rebels when they arrive in Xuzhou?
After Yang Bo arrived in Jinan, he quickly received information about Nanzhili from Zhang Juzheng.
After Su Ze took control of Nanjing and Fengyang, he occupied Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, and Taizhou along the way, but the new southeastern army did not continue to move north along the canal.
Today, Huai'an Prefecture and Xuzhou are still within the control of the Ming court.
Xuzhou has not been lost yet, which is something that makes Yang Bo feel lucky, but Nan Zhili was defeated so quickly, which still makes Yang Bo a little scared.
He had served as Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanzhili, and he knew the situation in Nanjing quite well.
Li Tingzhu was considered a distinguished man who knew how to fight, and Yang Bo didn't think he was a surrenderer.
From Zhang Juzheng's letter, Yang Bo also knew that the firearms on Su Ze's side were ferocious, and all this made him deeply worried.
Yang Bo put away the letter and shouted to his soldiers: "Convene the generals for a meeting!"
After the other generals arrived, Li Chengliang, the deputy general, arrived belatedly.
This was of course Li Chengliang's intention. He knew that Yang Bo was displeased with him and weakened the authority of the civil servant generals. Only in this way could he fish in troubled waters and protect his army.
As a military leader, Li Chengliang has a clear understanding that his reliance is his army.
Whether it is to perform meritorious service or to save one's life, one must hold on to his troops tightly.
As the coach, if Yang Bo insists on letting Li Chengliang die or fight a tough battle, then Li Chengliang will have to obey.
Only by weakening Yang Bo's leadership authority will there be opportunities for bargaining in the future.
Yang Bo was angry, but now he had no way to touch Li Chengliang.
In reality, it is not a drama, and Yang Bo is not a ruthless person like Sun Wu. Just because Li Chengliang was late to kill him, not to mention whether he could kill him successfully, if he killed the deputy general before the battle started, the emperor would not spare Yang Bo.
Li Chengliang felt even more proud when he saw that Yang Bo had no reaction. When the generals on the nine sides saw that Yang Bo could not subdue Li Chengliang, they also decided to get closer to the deputy commander-in-chief in the future.
Yang Bo cleared his throat and said: "Today we convened a meeting with the generals. Zhang Juzheng has prepared military camps in Xuzhou, and the imperial court has also prepared military rations in Xuzhou. Next, the generals will talk about how to lure the Soviet thieves into a decisive battle in Xuzhou." The imperial court's
strategy The decisive battle is in Xuzhou, but this is just an idealized strategy. In fact, the decisive battle requires the joint choice of both the enemy and ourselves.
It's not that the imperial court said that the decisive battle could be fought in Xuzhou.
A general immediately said: "The Su thieves have occupied Fengyang Mansion and will definitely go north. Our army only needs to wait and work in Xuzhou and wait for the Su thieves to attack!" Yang Bo frowned. This was naturally the best way the court thought of,
but It is also the most impractical solution.
The reason is very simple. The food consumed by the 80,000-strong army every day is an astronomical figure. Let alone a year of food in Xuzhou, the court cannot bear it even if it lasts for three months.
Yang Bo looked at Li Chengliang, and Li Chengliang stood up this time and said:
"Commander, the general thinks that after our army enters Xuzhou, we should take the initiative to attack the Soviet thieves and force the enemy to fight in Xuzhou." Yang Bo nodded slightly, and Li Chengliang Although he is unruly, he does know how to fight.
Li Chengliang pointed to the map and said: "Our army is stationed in Xuzhou. We can go south to attack Suzhou, Lingbi and other places, and wait for opportunities to regain Fengyang."
After saying this, all the soldiers nodded, and Yang Bo could not raise any objections.
Who let Fengyang be the ancestral tomb of the old Zhu family? If Fengyang could be recovered, it would be a great achievement.
In this way, the strategy of attacking Fengyang and forcing Su Ze's main force to fight in Xuzhou was decided, and the 80,000-strong army continued to move south in a mighty manner.
While ships were sailing on the sea, Su Ze's fleet had already bypassed the Jiaodong Peninsula.
In order to prevent being detected by the Ming Dynasty coastal guards, Su Ze planned to sail in the open sea far away from the shore. Yesterday's wind and waves overturned a transport ship. Fortunately, the ship was loaded with grain and grass, so it did not cause too many casualties.
But the next step is to enter the Bohai Bay. When the fleet enters the vicinity of Dengzhou Prefecture, it will be difficult to hide it.
From the moment it passes Dengzhou, the fleet will begin to race against time.
Li Wang was lucky. His sprain did not damage his bones and he was able to get out of bed on the third day. He caught up with the army's assembly and successfully boarded the ship.
This group of soldiers who were recommended for further training all boarded the New World, and this round of military academy training was arranged at sea.
Li Wang had never been on a sea ship. He vomited at sea for three days and almost fainted. But even so, he still had to learn maneuvers and combat training regulations on the ship.
However, everyone gritted their teeth and persisted. After the first few days, Li Wang finally adapted to life at sea.
"Eat an orange."
Zhong Yugang, who studied with Li Wang, is from the same hometown as him, and Zhong Yugang was also a scholar.
They were put together again in the advanced training class, and Li Wang called Zhong Yugang Zhong Xiucai.
Hearing about eating oranges, Li Wang was about to vomit acid water again. For them, the army, apart from the bumps on the sea, the rule of eating oranges every day set by the governor was also one of the most difficult to bear.
Zhong Xiucai said with a smile: "I heard from the people in the Navy that in the past, people often suffered from strange diseases during ocean voyages, including diarrhea, vomiting, and even ulcers on their limbs. At that time, everyone thought it was some kind of curse on the sea." "Later, the Grand Governor stipulated that voyages must be carried
out After eating oranges, this strange disease disappeared."
Upon hearing this, Li Wang quickly pushed away the oranges and stuffed them into his mouth.
Su Ze also boarded the New World in person and gave two lessons to these grassroots officers. For Li Wang, the Grand Governor was the greatest person he had ever seen in his life. Since it was requested by the Grand Governor, it must be Yes!
"Xiucai, how many more days are we going to be floating on the sea?"
Li Wang had already begun to miss his brothers in the company.
Zhong Yugang said: "The fleet has turned around yesterday. It should have bypassed the Jiaodong Peninsula. According to the fleet's sailing speed, it will take about ten days to see Dagukou." Hearing that it would take ten days to disembark,
Li Wang became excited.
Zhong Yugang said: "Your second brigade cannot use the strength to capture Dagukou, so we still have to rely on our first brigade!"
Zhong Yugang, a scholar from Jiujiang, specifically applied to be transferred to the navy unit of the first brigade, and also passed the seaman's examination Li Wang felt a little incredible during the assessment.
He said a little unconvinced: "But after the capture of Dagukou, your first brigade will be useless!"
Zhong Yugang said dejectedly: "Yes, but I still think the future belongs to the navy! This is why I want to join The reason for the First Brigade!"
The two people have been arguing about the navy and the army for a long time, and will even continue. However, when this period of officer training ends five days later, everyone feels reluctant to leave.
Even at sea, the Southeast New Army held a simple celebration. Su Ze boarded the New World again and awarded new military ranks to all new officers.
The staff's prediction was absolutely correct. When the huge fleet passed near Dengzhou, merchant ships near Dengzhou indeed discovered traces of the fleet.
This news immediately spread to Dengzhou, and the Dengzhou Navy was naturally unable to intercept the fleet of the New Southeast Army. After they found out the situation, they immediately used an eight-hundred-mile horse to deliver the news to the capital.
On the Southeast New Army side, the fleet also accelerated its sailing speed. Two days after Mingting discovered the fleet, the lookout used a telescope to see the fort at Dagukou.
Su Ze gave up the command of the fleet to Lin Mojun. Lin Mojun immediately put on his armor and began to issue orders skillfully.
Dagukou.
The commander of the Tianjin Left Guard stationed at Dagukou was named Mao. When the three Tianjin guards received an order from the Ministry of War to ask the first guard to garrison Dagu, the three guards were unwilling.
Dagukou is a remote and remote place close to the sea, so how can it compare with the prosperity and comfort of Tianjin city.
The final result was that Tianjin Commander Mei Chengtai thought of a way and asked the three guards to adopt the fairest method, drawing lots.
The unlucky Commander Mao was selected for the task of guarding the mouth of Dagu, and came to this barren Dagu mouth cursing.
There was originally a Qianhu Station garrisoned at Dagu Port, and with the four thousand left guard troops brought by Commander Mao, the camp near the Dagu Fort was no longer enough, so temporary camps could only be built.
The three guards in Tianjin all felt that the Ministry of War was making a fool of themselves by allowing them to garrison Dagu. They did not think there was any possibility of an attack at Dagu Pass.
Commander Mao couldn't bear the poor living conditions in Dagukou, so he returned to his home in Tianjin every now and then, entrusting all military affairs to his deputy general.
When the lookout at Dagukou Fort saw the fleet, the Tianjin Zuowei still heard the sound of massing drums in ignorance, and then the roar of huge cannons was heard in the military camp.
The fort at Dagukou responded hastily, but under the bombardment of Su Ze's more advanced naval guns, smoke and debris flew everywhere.
The gunners at Dagukou were still brave, but the huge firepower gap made this bravery in vain. The fort collapsed, and the Ming army completely lost the ability to fight back.
In fact, at this time, there are now two troops in Dagu, the Dagu Guards and the Tianjin Left Guards. They can still defend the city relying on the strong defense of Dagu.
However, in Dagu's words, Tianjin's left guard had completely lost its fighting spirit. With Mao's commander and envoy absent from the army, the soldiers asked to return to Tianjin to defend Tianjin.
The lieutenant general knew that his prestige was powerless to suppress the soldiers, and the roaring artillery made him feel scared.
The Tianjin Left Guard withdrew from Dagu Pass, and the morale of the Dagu Guards was completely defeated.
The Second Brigade, which landed at Xintang to the north of the Dagu Fort, took advantage of the situation and appeared behind the Dagu Fort. The Tianjin Left Guards who escaped from Dagu were immediately defeated, and the soldiers fled in all directions.
Seeing that the gate of Dagu Guard was broken down, thousands of families of Dagu Guard committed suicide and threw themselves into the sea.
The Daku Fort fell!
(End of chapter)