Bright Spring

Originally, the defeat of Ruan Shuai, the Taifu of the Dayue Kingdom, had already made people panic.Ruan Shuai, who claims to have an army of 50 in his hand, within about half a day, was defeated in attacking the reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty, defeating the defensive battle of the army stronghold, and then lost the city of Beijiang.Ruan Jian, Minister of the Ministry of War, rushed back to Qinghua to inform him of the details, and Chen Jikuo panicked.

Suddenly there was news about Liu Shengjun, which made things worse.

The entire "imperial capital" Tsinghua City was in a state of chaos; because Chen Jikuo decided to leave Tsinghua on the same day and retreat to Yi'an City, the land of dragon prosperity.The defense of Qinghua will be handed over to the Taibao and General Ruan Jingyi of the Vietnamese Army.Of course, Chen Jikuo had to bring the ministers of the court and some guards to accompany him. The haste of the matter caused the city of Qinghua to be in chaos.

Seeing such chaos, Ruan Jian finally thought of Pingding Wang Li Li... Those who advocated that the Ruan Commander should not gather troops for a decisive battle, Ruan Jian can be said to be an afterthought; but Li Li did strongly oppose it before the war, and proposed Different strategies.

Looking back now, Ruan Jian felt that what Li Li said made more sense.

So Ruan Jian hurried to Li Li's residence in Qinghua, wanting to hear his opinion on the current situation.

The people in Li's mansion were also packing up their things, ready to leave Tsinghua.However, Li Li's house is full of young and strong men, and his family members are not here.Ruan Jian was ushered into the living room and served a cup of tea.

After Ruan Jian met Li Li, he was frowning and sighed for a while.

And Li Li also frowned, but he just wanted to calm down a lot. He quoted a Han Chinese saying: "Everything can be established without warning. When things come to an end, there is no way to deal with the current situation. We can only think more about the future." what to do."

Ruan Jian said: "The emperor wants to leave the capital (Qinghua) immediately, is it right?"

Li Li shook his head and said: "The monarch and ministers left Beijing in a hurry, which shook the morale of the army. It is not easy for the Taibao (Ruan Jingyi) to guard the imperial capital; And I'm afraid that the emperor is unwilling to agree no matter what. So the situation in front of him can only be like this, there is no other way.

On the other hand, the Dayue army on the Dongguan side still has time to deploy.If they only retreated from Manhaikou, that would not work; they should disperse their forces, find favorable terrain all the way from Manhaikou to Hoa Lu (now Ninh Binh, Vietnam), and resist steadily, so as to consume the ship bandits and delay time. "

Ruan Jian said: "King Ping Ding's words are right, I will go to the palace later to remonstrate with the emperor."

Li Li asked again puzzled: "Teacher Ruan has a lot of troops in Beijiang Mansion, even if he loses to the boat bandits in a decisive battle, he won't be defeated so quickly?"

Ruan Jian said with a complicated expression: "I saw with my own eyes on the battlefield that the Great Viet Army was about to collapse at the first touch! At that time, our troops had just approached the enemy's line by dozens of steps, and the Ming Army suddenly attacked with firecrackers and artillery, causing our soldiers The casualties were heavy and terrified; our army retreated, and the Ming army immediately swarmed in, alas..."

Ruan Jian had lingering fears: "The firearms of the Ming army are extraordinary. The firearms are definitely not the copper handguns used in the past. The lead bullets hit people no closer than bows and arrows, and they hit people harder; their artillery can bombard more than one mile away. , causing massive casualties."

Li Li asked, "What are the shells made of?"

Ruan Jian said: "It's just a round iron bump!" He gestured and said, "I can see it clearly in the Dazhai on the army formation. Run people and horses."

Li Li nodded slightly, noncommittal.He pondered for a while, and said: "By the way, I think that if the emperor leaves the imperial capital and retreats directly to Nhe'an, Nhe'an will not be able to hold on."

(From north to south along the coast, there are three cities here, Thanh Hoa, Yanzhou, and Nghe An; Yanzhou is probably located in Huangmei, Vietnam today, and Nghe An is probably located in Vinh City, Vietnam today.)

Ruan Jian hurriedly asked, "What's the best strategy for King Pingding?"

Li Lidao: "Originally we relied on the imperial capital, Dacheng, to delay the enemy. But Liu Sheng's surprise attack was very sudden, Qinghua city defenses were unprepared, and the king and ministers of Dayue fled in a hurry, shaking people's hearts; so I don't think it is necessary to defend the Qing Dynasty It’s better to just abandon the defense and save more troops.”

Ruan Jian murmured, "Then if the Ming army pursues us, can we leave?"

Li Li sneered and said: "The ship bandits won a great victory in the north and occupied Dongguan and other rich places, but it is an anecdote that a large number of people came by boat; that's why we didn't expect it, and it was normal. My brain is sick! They have so many ships, and they can't get ashore within a few days. They must have strict military discipline and dispatch arrangements, otherwise it will be very easy to chaos. When the ship bandits gather troops and horses to pursue them, we will leave long ago. Far."

Ruan Jian thought it made sense, and murmured, "No wonder King Ping Ding doesn't seem too flustered."

Li Li continued: "After our army retreats to the south, we cannot defend Nghe An (Vinh City), because the surrounding terrain of Nghe An is open, which is not conducive to our army's tactical planning. If we first defend Yanzhou (Huangmei) in the north of Nghe An, then You can find a way in the north of Yanzhou, relying on the numerous mountains and rivers; use tactics such as luring the enemy to ambush and defeating each one, constantly consuming the enemy's vigor and strength, and delaying the enemy's rapid offensive.

With such a deployment, the troops in the north of Yanzhou can also get sufficient supplies from Yanzhou City in the rear.

Yanzhou's dealings may still not be able to repel the attack of the boat bandits, but can only delay time.Therefore, at the same time, the imperial court should send people to Nghe An City, and ask the civil and military officers in Nghe An to escort the grain and grass, and transport them to various places upstream along the tea river.Our army has to build warehouses in the mountains and stockpile food, and rely on Lu Nian County west of Nghe An for the needs of subsequent wars.

When the fighting in Yanzhou was over, the various ministries continued to retreat southward, fighting while walking.At this time, we can no longer go to Nhe'an City. As mentioned earlier, the terrain there is open, which is only conducive to the advance of the elite infantry and cavalry of the boat bandits.

At that time, we were going to go to the west of Nghe An, go to the Chajiang River Valley, and move around Lu Nian County and various forest warehouses;If the battle of Nghe An still fails to repel the boat bandits, our army can continue to retreat towards Hue.After one battle after another, can it be over in a few months? "

Li Li spoke very fluently, obviously he didn't come up with a strategy on the spur of the moment, but had already thought it over.

He continued: "Every time our army withdraws from a place, we burn all the remaining food and grass. After so many raids and obstructions, the rainy season will definitely come. When the rainy season comes, the boatmen lack food and clothing, diseases and epidemics are rampant, and the roads are muddy. .They can only ask for their own blessings, and they are lucky to be able to withdraw their troops alive!"

Ruan Jian nodded frequently when he heard this, and said, "I only regret that it's too late to meet you!"

"It's not too late." Li Li looked at Ruan Jian expectantly.

The two looked at each other for a moment, showing great sympathy for each other.

Ruan Jian said: "May it be as King Ping Ding said, it will not be too late! I will leave first, and I must go to persuade the emperor to adopt the strategy of King Ping Ding."

Li Li said: "Ruan Jun Mianzhi. This is the critical moment of Dayue's death. If the emperor exhausts his troops and loses too quickly, I am afraid that Dayue's situation will only get worse and worse, and he will not be able to recover his vitality. I don't know how many years will fall into a dark death. borders!"

Ruan Jian bowed deeply and said, "I will do my best!"

For a while, Ruan Jian, who was short in stature but with a big head, felt that both he and King Ping Ding had grown taller.

At this time, Li Li asked again in a casual tone: "Is Mr. Ruan's family in Tsinghua?"

Ruan Jian suddenly cooled off from the generosity just now, because Li Li's words made Ruan Jian think of some subtle things.

Ruan Jian's wife was also surnamed Ruan, and she was a famous beauty in his hometown of Hedong (now Haiyang).And Li Li also has shortcomings, that is, he is more lustful. Once he met Ruan Shi, his eyes were a little bit wrong.

So when Ruan Jian heard Li Li's question, he subconsciously became a little wary, and he said calmly, "I've settled down, thank you King Ping Ding for your concern."

Li Li nodded his head and sent Ruan Jian to the door.

Ruan Jian left Li Mansion and immediately rushed to the palace to ask to meet the emperor, claiming that there was something urgent.But after he waited for a long time, only a servant of the emperor came out.The attendant said that the emperor was very busy, and asked Ruan Jian what's the matter; he could say it first and have someone relay it to the emperor.

Ruan Jian then said that Wang Ding had a good strategy.

Unexpectedly, the servant immediately lost interest in listening, and said: "Servant Ruan, make preparations quickly, and when you leave the city, it will not be too late to report on the road."

Of course Ruan Jian was not satisfied with such an answer. If the emperor had already left the city, would Ruan Jingyi be allowed to withdraw from Qinghua?Ruan Jian kept talking about the seriousness of the matter, it was a matter of life and death, and at a critical juncture, the sooner the court made a decision, the better it would be able to turn the tide.

No matter how much the valet tried to persuade him, it was useless, so he simply went back impatiently.So Ruan Jian knelt outside the gate of the palace, with the momentum of not giving up if he didn't face the saint.

After a long time, a large group of people finally came out of the palace.Many mules and horses carried heavy packages, as if they were transporting treasure.Wearing a yellow robe and riding a horse, Chen Jizuo came over surrounded by the guards.Ruan Jian, who was kneeling in the middle of the road, blocked the way, and soon a guard came over and carried him to Chen Jiyao's side.

Chen Jikuo turned his head and said: "Ruan Aiqing is going with me, if you have anything to say, speak slowly on the way, what's the proper way to kneel here?"

Ruan Jian had no choice but to follow the emperor's army.

Now that things are going on, Ruan Jian's family can't take care of them anymore, not to mention the chaos on the road, it's really inconvenient for women, children, old and weak to flee with the army.Ruan Jian then called a domestic slave and told him to rush back to the mansion, and told the old lady to take his family to a relative's house to hide for a while.

There were so many people leaving the city that the army was a bit chaotic.

Fortunately, Liu Shengbu's ship only arrived at Majiangkou today, and Chen Jikuo was ready to leave as soon as he heard the news, and his reaction was very fast.It is obviously difficult for the Ming army to mobilize troops immediately to attack; otherwise, with the chaotic soldiers and horses around the Emperor Dayue at this time, I am afraid that they will have another big defeat.

Chapter 743 The Power of Thunder

Qinghua City, the second largest city in Annan Kingdom, is second only to Dongguan (Hanoi) in scale, but it is still far from being comparable to the important towns in Ming Dynasty.This is an ancient city, with moss-covered bricks on the walls, as if telling its heritage.

In the first ten days of October, Liu Sheng led more than [-] officers and land divisions, who had been stationed on the banks of the Majiang River and stationed in the east of Qinghua City.

Liu Sheng was riding a horse, and was a hundred steps away from the city wall, watching the front of the city.A few arrows were thrown from the air from time to time, which made the soldiers and guards very nervous, for fear that the commander might make a mistake.Liu Sheng, however, had a calm face, listening to the scout general who had just arrived to report the military situation.

"On the day we arrived at Majiangkou, Chen Jizuo's troops went south. The latest report was at noon today, and the detailed work found that Chen Jizuo's rebel brigade was not far from Yanzhou (Huangmei)." The general said while speaking, While turning nervously to look at the rebel archers on the wall.