Chapter 352: Cautious Fushou
Seeing Tuotuo's frowned brow and hesitant look, Xuexue knelt at Tuotuo's feet and said sadly.
"Prime Minister! There is an old saying among the Han people that one must be on guard against others, especially against a treacherous villain like Hama. Now he is in the favor of Your Majesty. If he colludes with the Second Queen, the Prime Minister will surely be in danger.
"If the Prime Minister is harmed by treacherous villains, who can control the Red Turban bandits in Jiangnan? Who can break through the Xuzhou City in front of us? Please make a decision as soon as possible!"
Tuotuo heard this, looked up at the fortified city of Xuzhou in front of him, and finally let out a long sigh, as if he had made up his mind, and then said firmly, "I have no intention of usurping the throne, but I was framed by villains and treacherous people. Tell me, have those villains in the court become obsessed with power and party struggles and have even disregarded the country? They actually took the initiative to collude with the rebels in order to harm me?"
Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and instantly connected the dots between these two relationships.
They had some doubts just now. How could Lu Jin, who was far away in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, be so well-informed about the news in Dadu, and why was he so clear about the political struggle in the court? Otherwise, why did Lu Jin falsely accuse Tuotuo of wanting to usurp the throne in his manifesto and take the initiative to hand the knife to Hama and the Second Queen? Could it be that Hama and the Second Queen had already colluded with Lu Jin, the traitor? Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain!
Everyone was staring at Tuotuo closely. Since Tuotuo came to power, he has gathered around him a number of civil and military officials who are loyal to him. If Tuotuo falls and Hama takes over, they will certainly not have a good time. Naturally, they do not want Tuotuo to fall.
However, little did they know that the more they clung to Tuotuo, the more they were feared by Emperor Shun.
Tuotuo looked at the concerned eyes of the crowd and said, "Nasuraddin, send one of your sons back to handle this matter personally. You must not let Hama and Qi get the letter. If the two of them attack me in Dadu, you must send someone to tell me immediately."
"Yes! Don't worry, Prime Minister. I will arrange it myself." Nasuradin, who was participating in the military council, immediately accepted the order.
After dealing with this matter, Tuotuo frowned and looked at the tall Xuzhou City in front of him, and said again, "We can't continue to drag it here and stop moving forward. We have to think of a way. Either continue to attack the city, or if we still can't take it down, what should we do?"
Nasuraddin, who had just been named, immediately advised, "Prime Minister, the most disadvantageous thing for our army right now is actually the lack of food and grass. If there is enough food and grass, it would be fine to continue the siege for a while, but now we must find a way to break through as soon as possible. If we continue to drag it out in Xuzhou, it is inevitable that the army will be tired and exhausted. Moreover, if the army cannot achieve success for a long time, it will be easier for the treacherous officials in the court to take advantage of it."
Tuotuo nodded, "Do you have any ideas?"
Nasuraddin immediately said, "The scouts we sent out reported that the enemy had built three military camps between the south of Xuzhou and Suzhou. There were only wooden walls and no strong cities. The enemy troops in the military camps were no more than 10,000 people, and it was definitely easier to fight than in Xuzhou.
"I suspect that these three military camps were built because the enemy army felt that the distance between Xuzhou and Suzhou was too long, a full 150 miles, and it was difficult for the two cities to rush to each other for assistance. Even if they marched by force, they could not reach each other within a day. They had to camp in the wild overnight, which made it easy for our cavalry to attack. That's why they built three military camps in the middle for camping."
Tuotuo seemed to be thinking about what he said, and then asked, "You mean, we should leave Xuzhou alone and attack those military camps first to cut off their reinforcements?"
Nasuraddin immediately said, "We still have to fight for Xuzhou. I think we can give it one last try and fire our cannons at the city! If we still can't capture it, we can change our strategy and surround Xuzhou without attacking it. We will use our main force to attack those military camps.
"We can also see if the Xuzhou bandits will come out of the city to rescue the military camp. If they dare to come out, we can leave a group of elite cavalry to eat them out in the wild, so as to avoid wasting time with the bandits in this strong city."
Tuotuo pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "The Emperor Taizu issued the order to destroy the city because we Mongols are good at cavalry but not at attacking cities. As long as the Han people defend the city, our cavalry will find it difficult to conquer it. Now it seems to be true. We are still too late. Otherwise, how could the enemy army build such a strong city?
"Just as Nasuraddin said, we will attack one last time. If it is still difficult to break through, we will turn around and attack the military camp, surround it and attack the reinforcements, lure the enemy troops out of the city, and crush them with our Mongolian cavalry!"
"Yes!" The generals immediately responded.
However, just when everyone agreed and prepared to build the Huihui Cannon to destroy the city, Shi Pu, the head of the Ministry of War, suddenly gave an advice.
"Prime Minister, I also have something to say."
"explain."
Shi Pu said immediately, "The Minister of Jiangsu and Zhejiang said that there are more than 150,000 bandits in Luzhou attacking eastern Zhejiang, and the entire eastern Zhejiang is densely populated with bandit spies. Almost on the same day, the bandit's manifesto was posted all over eastern Zhejiang. They may be difficult to resist, and we must prepare for the worst."
Does this mean that eastern Zhejiang is bound to fall?
Tuotuo glanced at him and asked expressionlessly, "What are your plans?"
Shi Pu bowed and said, "The news this time came from Haining Prefecture, which means that the sea route from Hangzhou to Haining is still open. We should take advantage of this opportunity to have Jiangsu and Zhejiang prepare more military rations and send them over, and store more military rations for the entire army.
"The fact that Xuzhou City is so difficult to attack right now shows that the enemy army has already made preparations. Even if we can capture those military camps next, if the enemy army defends the city and refuses to leave, we still have to continue attacking the strong city. Since the war cannot be ended in a short period of time, we should take a long-term approach to this battle."
Tuotuo obviously did not want to accept the statement that Zhejiang East would definitely fall, and wanted to refute it, but Xuexue followed suit and said, "Prime Minister, our army is currently blocked by a strong city. Even if we can capture Xuzhou next, I'm afraid other cities will be difficult to capture. Moreover, even if we wipe out the bandits in Xuzhou, there are still bandits in Luzhou in Jiangbei. We cannot withdraw to support Zhejiang East for a while, so they can only rely on themselves.
"I agree with Chief Shi's suggestion. We should take a long-term view, stock up on military rations, and be prepared for a fierce battle."
Seeing Xuexue's attitude, Tuotuo knew that what they said was true, so he nodded and said, "Then follow your plan. Send a message to Dingding and ask him to prepare military rations and send them to Haining."
"Yes!"
Seeing that Tuotuo was willing to follow the advice, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and immediately began to look for laborers to cut wood, preparing to make fennel cannons and fire them to destroy the city!
However, three days later, this trick still didn't work against Zhima Li who was well prepared.
On the 24th day of the winter month, Tuotuo had just built more than 20 huihui cannons and immediately began to attack the arrow towers at the north gate. Huge rocks weighing tens or hundreds of pounds hit the towers, and soon several towers on the city wall collapsed. The towers on the main city gate were also smashed to pieces and were on the verge of collapse. For a while, the morale of the Yuan army was greatly boosted. They had been blocked by Xuzhou for half a month and had been unable to advance. Today, they finally saw the effect of the siege.
However, before they could be happy for long, the heavy catapults in Xuzhou city began to fight back.
Since the catapults in Xuzhou City were placed on the artillery platforms in advance, their trajectories were calculated in advance, and their sizes were larger than the catapults built temporarily by the Yuan army, their power was naturally incomparable.
The range of a catapult is limited. If you want to hit the city walls or buildings in the city, you have to deploy it forward. Therefore, the Yuan army's Huihui cannon position was within the range of the catapults in the city.
As soon as Zhima Li fought back, dozens of huge rocks flew out from the city, drew a high arc in the sky, and slammed heavily into the Yuan army's Huihui cannon position, immediately causing heavy casualties to the Yuan army's artillerymen, and almost all of the more than 20 catapults that had just been built were also damaged.
After smashing the Yuan army's artillery carts, Zhima Li ordered the catapults in the city to throw stones crazily at the Yuan army camp. Within an hour, three or four hundred huge stones were thrown out, causing heavy losses to the Yuan army. Even the Taiwei Yue Kuochar was nearly crushed to death. Seeing this, Tuotuo immediately ordered the army to retreat two miles and set up camp again.
Seeing the Yuan army retreating after being beaten, the top of Xuzhou City immediately erupted in cheers like a tsunami. They had repelled the Yuan army again. Before, everyone was still worried about the central army of the Yuan court. Now it seems that the prime minister of the Yuan court is just like that and can't do anything to them. When they returned to the camp that night, the faces of all the generals of the Yuan army were very ugly. They didn't expect that the enemy army had prepared fennel cannons in the city, and they hadn't used them for half a month. It turned out that they were waiting for the Yuan army to fire first.
Yue Kuochar recalled the scene during the day when a huge rock fell from the sky and flew straight in front of him, smashing the horse under his crotch into a meat paste on the spot. If he had not dodged quickly and jumped sideways off the horse's back, or if the huge rock was two feet further away, he would have been crushed to death along with his mount. He still has lingering fears.
So he immediately said, "The enemy troops in the city have already made all the necessary preparations, even deploying things like fennel cannons in advance. It seems that we can't continue to waste time like this, so we should attack those military camps first."
Everyone nodded. This was something they had discussed a few days ago, so no one objected.
But Tuotuo said, "We have to attack those military camps, but we can't stop the offensive against Xuzhou. Otherwise, as Shi Pu said, if we defeat the military camps, the enemy army still won't leave the city? Then don't we have to continue attacking the city?"
"What should we do then?" Yue Kuochaer frowned worriedly.
Tuotuo immediately arranged, "Yuekuocaer, you take 40,000 soldiers and 30,000 civilians to continue besieging Xuzhou. Tomorrow I will lead 100,000 main forces to attack those military camps. Nasuradin, you take 10,000 elite cavalry and be ready. If the Xuzhou rebels dare to go out of the city to rescue, you will defeat them."
"Yes!" Nasuruddin immediately accepted the order.
"What about me? Should I continue to attack the city?" Yue Kuochar asked puzzledly.
"No, you should not continue to attack by force. Instead, while besieging the city, you should let the civilians fill up the moat in a big way. Fill up all the moats on all four sides, and use the filling of the moat as a cover to dig underground tunnels from the rear, leading directly into the city. Dig several more tunnels. If it is suitable, you can also dig a tunnel into the city, and then divert the water from the Huai River into the tunnel to irrigate the city.
"If the enemy army still doesn't come out after I finish attacking those military camps, I will launch a massive attack from the tunnels when I come back. You also need to build more siege weapons, such as the fennel cannon and the well-shaped arrow towers, to prevent the enemy army from discovering that you are digging underground."
Yue Kuochar's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he immediately said, "I understand, Prime Minister, don't worry, I will definitely not let the bandits in the city find out!"
Tuotuo nodded and made arrangements, "Tomorrow the army will move out of camp and head south with great fanfare. Let the enemy know which military camps we are going to attack and see how the enemy in the city reacts."
"Yes!" Everyone immediately agreed and left.
The next morning, the Yuan army indeed moved their camp southward with great fanfare, heading straight for the military camps. Zhima Li on the top of the city wall was worried, not knowing whether Peng Da, who was guarding the military camp, could hold on.
He looked back to the north again. There was no news from inside or outside the city. He didn't know how Fu Youde was doing, whether he had crossed the river, or whether he could burn Tuotuo's food and grass to force Tuotuo to withdraw.
We will not talk about Toghto's side for now, but Fushou, who had led a detachment of 10,000 infantry and cavalry to Shuyang and joined forces with Tutemür's 10,000 infantry. The combined strength of the two was as high as 15,000 infantry and 5,000 elite cavalry.
As soon as this group of people arrived in Shuyang, they were discovered by the scouts sent by Zheng Yong. At first, Zheng Yong wanted to use the same trick again to see if he could lure out the Yuan cavalry and then surround and annihilate them.
But this time, the Yuan army had Fushou in charge, who was much more stable than Yesu. The 5,000 cavalrymen under Fushou did not separate from the infantry formation at all, and they pressed forward together.
Seeing that the Yuan army had no flaws this time and there was no profit to be gained, Zheng Yong immediately gave up the idea of annihilating another cavalry. He immediately sent someone to deliver a letter to Zhu Liangzu, asking them to prepare to meet the enemy and provide support. He also led the Second Cavalry Regiment to retreat towards Huai'an.
On the 26th of the winter month, after Zheng Yong retreated to the Shengwu Army camp on the north bank of the Huai'an Floating Bridge, Zhu Liangzu personally came out of the camp to meet him. At the same time, Fu Shou's 20,000 infantry and cavalry troops also followed closely.
Zhu Liangzu immediately ordered the cavalry to cross the river and retreat to the south bank, and then personally led the main force to defend the camp, ready to see if the Yuan army on the opposite side dared to come over.
Fu Shou was indeed very steady. When he arrived five miles opposite the Qiaotou camp of the Shengwu Army, he stopped advancing and led 5,000 cavalrymen to conduct reconnaissance within two miles. Seeing that Zhu Liangzu's camp was strong, he had no plans to attack directly for the time being.
At this moment, the camp gate opened, and Zhu Liangzu, wearing fish-scale armor, holding an iron spear, rode out of the camp on a horse. Behind him were dozens of personal soldiers and a carriage. On the carriage stood a cross with a person tied to it. It was the injured and captured Yesu.
Pulling Yesu to the front of the battle, Zhu Liangzu said indifferently to his soldiers, "Cut off his two ears and chop off one of his hands."
"Yes!"
Soon a personal soldier jumped onto the carriage and tortured Yesu in front of Fushou and Tutemür. Yesu's screams of agony were immediately heard in the field.
Seeing this, Tutimur was immediately excited and said, "Sir, are we just going to let the enemy army torture Yesu instead of saving him?"
Fu Shou frowned and shook his head, saying, "The enemy army is deliberately provoking us to lure us into attacking. Have you forgotten how Yesu was defeated and captured before? The Prime Minister asked us to come here just to keep an eye on the enemy cavalry and prevent them from attacking our flanks. As long as we keep an eye on the enemy army, our mission will be accomplished.
"As for saving Yesu, do you want to go over and keep him company?"
"But."
Tu Temur wanted to say something, but Fu Shou said immediately, "No buts, I am the commander of the detachment, and I will take responsibility for anything that happens. Send the army back to the camp and send out scouts to monitor the bandit camp's every move."
After saying this, he reined in his horse and turned away.
Tutemür looked at Yesu on the carriage, then at Fushou's back, gritted his teeth, and said helplessly, "Retreat, return to camp."
Yesu, who was in the carriage, howled and cursed while looking at the Yuan army that turned around and left, and he couldn't help feeling angry and lost.
Seeing that the Yuan army had suffered such a loss and dared not to attack the camp, Zhu Liangzu could not help but curl his lips. Damn, they had prepared so many heavy artillery in the camp in vain. He had never seen what it would look like when nearly a hundred cannons fired at the same time.
(End of this chapter)
Seeing Tuotuo's frowned brow and hesitant look, Xuexue knelt at Tuotuo's feet and said sadly.
"Prime Minister! There is an old saying among the Han people that one must be on guard against others, especially against a treacherous villain like Hama. Now he is in the favor of Your Majesty. If he colludes with the Second Queen, the Prime Minister will surely be in danger.
"If the Prime Minister is harmed by treacherous villains, who can control the Red Turban bandits in Jiangnan? Who can break through the Xuzhou City in front of us? Please make a decision as soon as possible!"
Tuotuo heard this, looked up at the fortified city of Xuzhou in front of him, and finally let out a long sigh, as if he had made up his mind, and then said firmly, "I have no intention of usurping the throne, but I was framed by villains and treacherous people. Tell me, have those villains in the court become obsessed with power and party struggles and have even disregarded the country? They actually took the initiative to collude with the rebels in order to harm me?"
Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and instantly connected the dots between these two relationships.
They had some doubts just now. How could Lu Jin, who was far away in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, be so well-informed about the news in Dadu, and why was he so clear about the political struggle in the court? Otherwise, why did Lu Jin falsely accuse Tuotuo of wanting to usurp the throne in his manifesto and take the initiative to hand the knife to Hama and the Second Queen? Could it be that Hama and the Second Queen had already colluded with Lu Jin, the traitor? Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain!
Everyone was staring at Tuotuo closely. Since Tuotuo came to power, he has gathered around him a number of civil and military officials who are loyal to him. If Tuotuo falls and Hama takes over, they will certainly not have a good time. Naturally, they do not want Tuotuo to fall.
However, little did they know that the more they clung to Tuotuo, the more they were feared by Emperor Shun.
Tuotuo looked at the concerned eyes of the crowd and said, "Nasuraddin, send one of your sons back to handle this matter personally. You must not let Hama and Qi get the letter. If the two of them attack me in Dadu, you must send someone to tell me immediately."
"Yes! Don't worry, Prime Minister. I will arrange it myself." Nasuradin, who was participating in the military council, immediately accepted the order.
After dealing with this matter, Tuotuo frowned and looked at the tall Xuzhou City in front of him, and said again, "We can't continue to drag it here and stop moving forward. We have to think of a way. Either continue to attack the city, or if we still can't take it down, what should we do?"
Nasuraddin, who had just been named, immediately advised, "Prime Minister, the most disadvantageous thing for our army right now is actually the lack of food and grass. If there is enough food and grass, it would be fine to continue the siege for a while, but now we must find a way to break through as soon as possible. If we continue to drag it out in Xuzhou, it is inevitable that the army will be tired and exhausted. Moreover, if the army cannot achieve success for a long time, it will be easier for the treacherous officials in the court to take advantage of it."
Tuotuo nodded, "Do you have any ideas?"
Nasuraddin immediately said, "The scouts we sent out reported that the enemy had built three military camps between the south of Xuzhou and Suzhou. There were only wooden walls and no strong cities. The enemy troops in the military camps were no more than 10,000 people, and it was definitely easier to fight than in Xuzhou.
"I suspect that these three military camps were built because the enemy army felt that the distance between Xuzhou and Suzhou was too long, a full 150 miles, and it was difficult for the two cities to rush to each other for assistance. Even if they marched by force, they could not reach each other within a day. They had to camp in the wild overnight, which made it easy for our cavalry to attack. That's why they built three military camps in the middle for camping."
Tuotuo seemed to be thinking about what he said, and then asked, "You mean, we should leave Xuzhou alone and attack those military camps first to cut off their reinforcements?"
Nasuraddin immediately said, "We still have to fight for Xuzhou. I think we can give it one last try and fire our cannons at the city! If we still can't capture it, we can change our strategy and surround Xuzhou without attacking it. We will use our main force to attack those military camps.
"We can also see if the Xuzhou bandits will come out of the city to rescue the military camp. If they dare to come out, we can leave a group of elite cavalry to eat them out in the wild, so as to avoid wasting time with the bandits in this strong city."
Tuotuo pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "The Emperor Taizu issued the order to destroy the city because we Mongols are good at cavalry but not at attacking cities. As long as the Han people defend the city, our cavalry will find it difficult to conquer it. Now it seems to be true. We are still too late. Otherwise, how could the enemy army build such a strong city?
"Just as Nasuraddin said, we will attack one last time. If it is still difficult to break through, we will turn around and attack the military camp, surround it and attack the reinforcements, lure the enemy troops out of the city, and crush them with our Mongolian cavalry!"
"Yes!" The generals immediately responded.
However, just when everyone agreed and prepared to build the Huihui Cannon to destroy the city, Shi Pu, the head of the Ministry of War, suddenly gave an advice.
"Prime Minister, I also have something to say."
"explain."
Shi Pu said immediately, "The Minister of Jiangsu and Zhejiang said that there are more than 150,000 bandits in Luzhou attacking eastern Zhejiang, and the entire eastern Zhejiang is densely populated with bandit spies. Almost on the same day, the bandit's manifesto was posted all over eastern Zhejiang. They may be difficult to resist, and we must prepare for the worst."
Does this mean that eastern Zhejiang is bound to fall?
Tuotuo glanced at him and asked expressionlessly, "What are your plans?"
Shi Pu bowed and said, "The news this time came from Haining Prefecture, which means that the sea route from Hangzhou to Haining is still open. We should take advantage of this opportunity to have Jiangsu and Zhejiang prepare more military rations and send them over, and store more military rations for the entire army.
"The fact that Xuzhou City is so difficult to attack right now shows that the enemy army has already made preparations. Even if we can capture those military camps next, if the enemy army defends the city and refuses to leave, we still have to continue attacking the strong city. Since the war cannot be ended in a short period of time, we should take a long-term approach to this battle."
Tuotuo obviously did not want to accept the statement that Zhejiang East would definitely fall, and wanted to refute it, but Xuexue followed suit and said, "Prime Minister, our army is currently blocked by a strong city. Even if we can capture Xuzhou next, I'm afraid other cities will be difficult to capture. Moreover, even if we wipe out the bandits in Xuzhou, there are still bandits in Luzhou in Jiangbei. We cannot withdraw to support Zhejiang East for a while, so they can only rely on themselves.
"I agree with Chief Shi's suggestion. We should take a long-term view, stock up on military rations, and be prepared for a fierce battle."
Seeing Xuexue's attitude, Tuotuo knew that what they said was true, so he nodded and said, "Then follow your plan. Send a message to Dingding and ask him to prepare military rations and send them to Haining."
"Yes!"
Seeing that Tuotuo was willing to follow the advice, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and immediately began to look for laborers to cut wood, preparing to make fennel cannons and fire them to destroy the city!
However, three days later, this trick still didn't work against Zhima Li who was well prepared.
On the 24th day of the winter month, Tuotuo had just built more than 20 huihui cannons and immediately began to attack the arrow towers at the north gate. Huge rocks weighing tens or hundreds of pounds hit the towers, and soon several towers on the city wall collapsed. The towers on the main city gate were also smashed to pieces and were on the verge of collapse. For a while, the morale of the Yuan army was greatly boosted. They had been blocked by Xuzhou for half a month and had been unable to advance. Today, they finally saw the effect of the siege.
However, before they could be happy for long, the heavy catapults in Xuzhou city began to fight back.
Since the catapults in Xuzhou City were placed on the artillery platforms in advance, their trajectories were calculated in advance, and their sizes were larger than the catapults built temporarily by the Yuan army, their power was naturally incomparable.
The range of a catapult is limited. If you want to hit the city walls or buildings in the city, you have to deploy it forward. Therefore, the Yuan army's Huihui cannon position was within the range of the catapults in the city.
As soon as Zhima Li fought back, dozens of huge rocks flew out from the city, drew a high arc in the sky, and slammed heavily into the Yuan army's Huihui cannon position, immediately causing heavy casualties to the Yuan army's artillerymen, and almost all of the more than 20 catapults that had just been built were also damaged.
After smashing the Yuan army's artillery carts, Zhima Li ordered the catapults in the city to throw stones crazily at the Yuan army camp. Within an hour, three or four hundred huge stones were thrown out, causing heavy losses to the Yuan army. Even the Taiwei Yue Kuochar was nearly crushed to death. Seeing this, Tuotuo immediately ordered the army to retreat two miles and set up camp again.
Seeing the Yuan army retreating after being beaten, the top of Xuzhou City immediately erupted in cheers like a tsunami. They had repelled the Yuan army again. Before, everyone was still worried about the central army of the Yuan court. Now it seems that the prime minister of the Yuan court is just like that and can't do anything to them. When they returned to the camp that night, the faces of all the generals of the Yuan army were very ugly. They didn't expect that the enemy army had prepared fennel cannons in the city, and they hadn't used them for half a month. It turned out that they were waiting for the Yuan army to fire first.
Yue Kuochar recalled the scene during the day when a huge rock fell from the sky and flew straight in front of him, smashing the horse under his crotch into a meat paste on the spot. If he had not dodged quickly and jumped sideways off the horse's back, or if the huge rock was two feet further away, he would have been crushed to death along with his mount. He still has lingering fears.
So he immediately said, "The enemy troops in the city have already made all the necessary preparations, even deploying things like fennel cannons in advance. It seems that we can't continue to waste time like this, so we should attack those military camps first."
Everyone nodded. This was something they had discussed a few days ago, so no one objected.
But Tuotuo said, "We have to attack those military camps, but we can't stop the offensive against Xuzhou. Otherwise, as Shi Pu said, if we defeat the military camps, the enemy army still won't leave the city? Then don't we have to continue attacking the city?"
"What should we do then?" Yue Kuochaer frowned worriedly.
Tuotuo immediately arranged, "Yuekuocaer, you take 40,000 soldiers and 30,000 civilians to continue besieging Xuzhou. Tomorrow I will lead 100,000 main forces to attack those military camps. Nasuradin, you take 10,000 elite cavalry and be ready. If the Xuzhou rebels dare to go out of the city to rescue, you will defeat them."
"Yes!" Nasuruddin immediately accepted the order.
"What about me? Should I continue to attack the city?" Yue Kuochar asked puzzledly.
"No, you should not continue to attack by force. Instead, while besieging the city, you should let the civilians fill up the moat in a big way. Fill up all the moats on all four sides, and use the filling of the moat as a cover to dig underground tunnels from the rear, leading directly into the city. Dig several more tunnels. If it is suitable, you can also dig a tunnel into the city, and then divert the water from the Huai River into the tunnel to irrigate the city.
"If the enemy army still doesn't come out after I finish attacking those military camps, I will launch a massive attack from the tunnels when I come back. You also need to build more siege weapons, such as the fennel cannon and the well-shaped arrow towers, to prevent the enemy army from discovering that you are digging underground."
Yue Kuochar's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he immediately said, "I understand, Prime Minister, don't worry, I will definitely not let the bandits in the city find out!"
Tuotuo nodded and made arrangements, "Tomorrow the army will move out of camp and head south with great fanfare. Let the enemy know which military camps we are going to attack and see how the enemy in the city reacts."
"Yes!" Everyone immediately agreed and left.
The next morning, the Yuan army indeed moved their camp southward with great fanfare, heading straight for the military camps. Zhima Li on the top of the city wall was worried, not knowing whether Peng Da, who was guarding the military camp, could hold on.
He looked back to the north again. There was no news from inside or outside the city. He didn't know how Fu Youde was doing, whether he had crossed the river, or whether he could burn Tuotuo's food and grass to force Tuotuo to withdraw.
We will not talk about Toghto's side for now, but Fushou, who had led a detachment of 10,000 infantry and cavalry to Shuyang and joined forces with Tutemür's 10,000 infantry. The combined strength of the two was as high as 15,000 infantry and 5,000 elite cavalry.
As soon as this group of people arrived in Shuyang, they were discovered by the scouts sent by Zheng Yong. At first, Zheng Yong wanted to use the same trick again to see if he could lure out the Yuan cavalry and then surround and annihilate them.
But this time, the Yuan army had Fushou in charge, who was much more stable than Yesu. The 5,000 cavalrymen under Fushou did not separate from the infantry formation at all, and they pressed forward together.
Seeing that the Yuan army had no flaws this time and there was no profit to be gained, Zheng Yong immediately gave up the idea of annihilating another cavalry. He immediately sent someone to deliver a letter to Zhu Liangzu, asking them to prepare to meet the enemy and provide support. He also led the Second Cavalry Regiment to retreat towards Huai'an.
On the 26th of the winter month, after Zheng Yong retreated to the Shengwu Army camp on the north bank of the Huai'an Floating Bridge, Zhu Liangzu personally came out of the camp to meet him. At the same time, Fu Shou's 20,000 infantry and cavalry troops also followed closely.
Zhu Liangzu immediately ordered the cavalry to cross the river and retreat to the south bank, and then personally led the main force to defend the camp, ready to see if the Yuan army on the opposite side dared to come over.
Fu Shou was indeed very steady. When he arrived five miles opposite the Qiaotou camp of the Shengwu Army, he stopped advancing and led 5,000 cavalrymen to conduct reconnaissance within two miles. Seeing that Zhu Liangzu's camp was strong, he had no plans to attack directly for the time being.
At this moment, the camp gate opened, and Zhu Liangzu, wearing fish-scale armor, holding an iron spear, rode out of the camp on a horse. Behind him were dozens of personal soldiers and a carriage. On the carriage stood a cross with a person tied to it. It was the injured and captured Yesu.
Pulling Yesu to the front of the battle, Zhu Liangzu said indifferently to his soldiers, "Cut off his two ears and chop off one of his hands."
"Yes!"
Soon a personal soldier jumped onto the carriage and tortured Yesu in front of Fushou and Tutemür. Yesu's screams of agony were immediately heard in the field.
Seeing this, Tutimur was immediately excited and said, "Sir, are we just going to let the enemy army torture Yesu instead of saving him?"
Fu Shou frowned and shook his head, saying, "The enemy army is deliberately provoking us to lure us into attacking. Have you forgotten how Yesu was defeated and captured before? The Prime Minister asked us to come here just to keep an eye on the enemy cavalry and prevent them from attacking our flanks. As long as we keep an eye on the enemy army, our mission will be accomplished.
"As for saving Yesu, do you want to go over and keep him company?"
"But."
Tu Temur wanted to say something, but Fu Shou said immediately, "No buts, I am the commander of the detachment, and I will take responsibility for anything that happens. Send the army back to the camp and send out scouts to monitor the bandit camp's every move."
After saying this, he reined in his horse and turned away.
Tutemür looked at Yesu on the carriage, then at Fushou's back, gritted his teeth, and said helplessly, "Retreat, return to camp."
Yesu, who was in the carriage, howled and cursed while looking at the Yuan army that turned around and left, and he couldn't help feeling angry and lost.
Seeing that the Yuan army had suffered such a loss and dared not to attack the camp, Zhu Liangzu could not help but curl his lips. Damn, they had prepared so many heavy artillery in the camp in vain. He had never seen what it would look like when nearly a hundred cannons fired at the same time.
(End of this chapter)
