I want to be emperor

Chapter 355 Move the capital to Jinling
Because of a blizzard, the Chu army had to stop large-scale military operations.

After capturing Jinling City, the Sixth Division, which originally planned to go south to Lishui, and the First Division, which originally planned to go east to Zhenjiang, had to stop.

However, there were also some mistakes. Taking advantage of the bad weather during the snowy days, the First Division and the Sixth Division also took a rare rest and replenishment.

You must know that the eastward forces, especially the first and sixth divisions, have been fighting hard for several months as the main force, and there will be rest and replenishment in the middle, but after all, the state is not as good as its peak.

Taking advantage of the snow in the past few days, the army added some of the recruits who had just arrived at the front to the First Division and the Sixth Division, so that the two main forces returned to full strength.

In terms of equipment, some guns, armor, swords and spears were added to the two main forces respectively.

In the previous battles, despite the fact that the Chu army won consecutive battles, compared with the Ming army, the casualties were very small, but there will always be casualties and equipment losses.

In the Battle of Jinling City, as the main attacking force, the Sixth Division's main combat area was within the city, and its main combat method was close-range melee.

In this case, it is more difficult for the Chu army to take advantage of the guns, so the overall casualties are still relatively large compared with previous battles.

After a battle of Jinling City, the Sixth Division killed nearly 200 people and injured more than 300 people.

And the previous series of small and medium-scale battles, the Battle of Anqing, the Battle of Hukou, and the Battle of Jiujiang where the Sixth Division was the main attack at that time.

Adding up the front and back, the Sixth Division has actually killed more than 2000 people, injured more than 3000, and the total casualties exceeded [-].

Before the war, the Sixth Division had a total of more than 4000 people.

The reason why the combat effectiveness can continue to be maintained and there is not a big shortage of personnel is that there are continuously trained recruits from the rear arriving at the front line and replenishing the Sixth Division.

After the Battle of Jinling, the Sixth Division recruited more than 1000 recruits in one go, and resumed its full strength.

In addition to personnel, what actually needs to be replenished is more weapons and other materials.

Among them, more than ten pieces of artillery were added, mainly two and a half catties field guns and five catties field guns. Extremely high-intensity and rapid fire for a long time caused the life of the barrel to drop sharply to the point of being scrapped.

Others were damaged by enemy attacks, or simply fell behind because the gun mounts were damaged and unable to maneuver during the march.

These lost or damaged artillery that need to be repaired need to be replenished and replaced one by one.

Not to mention individual weapons such as muskets, armor, and spears, the attrition rate is even greater.

Basically, after a large-scale battle, a considerable part of the individual equipment is either lost or completely damaged and cannot be repaired, and some weapons need to be repaired, especially cold weapons. After the war, the proportion of repairs is even higher.

Finally, there is another large category of supplies that needs to be replenished, namely mules and horses.

The marching intensity of the Chu army is still relatively high, and the key to high-intensity marching is not people, but mules and horses.

Whether it's artillery, ammunition, food, or simply individual equipment on soldiers, all of these need to be transported by horse-drawn carts.

And the mules and horses that pull the carriage have become an indispensable part of the army.

But mules and horses not only eat a lot, but also consume a lot of energy, and their endurance is far inferior to that of humans. During continuous high-intensity marches, the loss of mules and horses is not small.

The reason why the Sixth Division was able to maintain high mobility during the Eastern Expedition was not because the mules and horses prepared before the war were too strong, but because the Sixth Division requisitioned local mules and horses while fighting.

Among them, the Sixth Transportation Regiment alone was on the way, and more than a thousand mules and horses were forcibly requisitioned successively, which basically meant that the Sixth Transportation Regiment lost more than a thousand mules and horses on the road.

This is just a Sixth Transport Regiment. Other units of the Sixth Division have successively requisitioned a large number of mules and horses to maintain the number of mules and horses in the army to ensure mobility.

Adding it all up, the Sixth Division requisitioned more than [-] mules and horses along the way.

But even so, when the Sixth Division reached Jinling City, there was still a huge gap for mules and horses.

This time, taking advantage of the rest time, the logistics department searched hundreds of mules and horses from the city and surrounding areas to replenish them to the Sixth Division.

The Sixth Division is replenishing personnel, guns, mules, ammunition, and other supplies.

The same goes for the [-]st Division, the two independent mortar regiments.

However, the First Guards Division can slow down a bit, because according to the combat plan, the First Guards Division will be stationed in Jinling City in the future.

On the one hand, it is used as a strategic reserve team, and on the other hand, it is also used to garrison Jinling City and suppress surrounding areas.

At the same time, it also served as a garrison force for Jinling City's forts and fortresses along the river, and cooperated with the navy to prevent the Ming army's navy from going up along the river.

It is said that after the Chu army conquered Jinling City, although the Ming army retreated temporarily, they returned to the Yangtze River outside Jinling City again the next day, and bombarded Jinling City along the river, especially the docks and ports. , directly smashed the local port terminal.

They even broke into the Dashengguan area at one point, um, this is also the camp where the Chu army and navy are currently stationed.

This made the navy very angry, and almost couldn't hold back and rushed out to have a decisive battle with the Ming navy fleet, but in the end, it was stopped by several large ships belonging to Zheng Zhilong's fleet in the Ming army navy. I could yell, but I didn't dare to kill...

But Jiangfang can't live without it. Since the navy is unreliable, the military naturally needs to think of other ways, such as building Jiangfang forts.

Because the defense of the river was urgent, the army directly deployed multiple [-]-pound siege artillery directly attacking Jinling City, plus some [-]-pound field artillery, to the riverside area outside the Yuejiang Tower, and built a preliminary Yuejiang Tower. fort.

This section of the Yangtze River is only more than 1000 meters long, and the nine-pound and fourteen-pound artillery can completely carry out an effective blockade.

In this way, it can be regarded as initially controlling the situation of the Ming army's navy going up the river.

However, artillery alone is not enough for the fort, and a certain amount of garrison troops are needed to prevent the enemy from directly landing and attacking the fort from the ground. Therefore, the First Guards Division also sent a regiment to garrison the Yuejianglou fort.

Generally speaking, the follow-up tasks of the First Guards Division are relatively light, so the supplementary sequence is also ranked behind.

And when the troops were resting and replenishing, the Great Chu Empire also entered a brand new period.

October [-]th, a snowy day.

Luo Zhixue issued an order in the Yuhuatai headquarters outside the city to officially move the capital to Yingtianfu and take Yingtianfu as the capital from now on.

The official move of the capital to Jinling City in Yingtianfu was a historic step for the Great Chu Empire, which meant that the Great Chu Empire had grown from a small local regime confined to the Huguang area to a large regime occupying half of China.

This is an important part of the Great Chu Empire from Huguang to the whole of China.

For this reason, after the corporal officially moved the capital, Luo Zhixue also held a series of official ceremonies on October 25 at the Temple of Heaven in the eastern suburbs of Jinling City.

These ceremonies are of no practical use, but consume manpower and material resources, but they are indispensable in the process of the rise of a dynasty, because they represent legitimacy.

Contemporary people, especially scholars, recognize this.

Even the civil and military officials within the Great Chu Empire recognized this.

It's not right to hold a ceremony like offering sacrifices to heaven, and I always feel like I'm still a bunch of thieves and bandits...

However, after the various ceremonies were completed, Luo Zhixue did not move into Miyagi in Jinling City.

That place had been abandoned a long time ago. Before the Chu army arrived, there were only ruined walls and weeds all over the ground, and there were not many intact buildings.

If it is a repair, it is basically no different from rebuilding a palace. The amount of work is too large, and it is impossible to do it in a short time.

After the court discussion, it was initially decided to rebuild the imperial palace on the former site of the Ming court palace city, but the rebuilding time would take several years to say the least.

Before that, Luo Zhixue will temporarily use the relatively well-preserved garden buildings in Jinling City, that is, the Wei Guogong Mansion, as his residence.

Someone suggested to temporarily use the Inner Defense Mansion in the southwest corner of Miyagi as a temporary residence before, but Luo Zhixue gave him a stare back.

Although Luo Zhixue was not too picky about the place where he lived, whether it was a tent when leading troops to fight, whether it was a temple in the wild, or a private house, Luo Zhixue had no problem.

But, he doesn't live alone in this palace, a group of concubines from the harem will also live here.

And the inner defense mansion used to be the place where the Nanjing guard eunuch lived...

How should I put it, Luo Zhixue felt awkward living in this place.

I am an emperor, what does it look like to live in a eunuch's place...

Don't wrong yourself if you are wronged, so Luo Zhixue went through the well-preserved large mansions in Jinling City that had not been damaged by the war one by one, and directly chose Wei Guogong's mansion as his residence.

In history, the reason why Emperor Hongguang lived in this place, instead of choosing a tall garden like Wei Guogong’s mansion, was because Hongguang Emperor was lifted up by Wei Guogong and others. The mansion of Duke Wei's mansion...

Besides, he has no real power, and he can't grab it if he wants to.

However, these problems do not exist for Luo Zhixue. Now, the various dignitaries and gentry in Jinling City, except for a few officials who have secretly surrendered before, such as Li Yuankui, the others, one counts one by one, have all been killed or arrested. .

Of course, Wei Guogong's family was also included.

In conquering Jinling City, just a dozen of the high-ranking officials above the rank of servants were killed or captured... A dozen of other princes and lords were killed or captured...

There are more other high-ranking officials and gentlemen.

Under such circumstances, no one in the city should make irresponsible remarks about Luo Zhixue's stay in Duke Wei's mansion.

On October 27th, Luo Zhixue officially stayed in the rebuilt palace of Duke Wei's mansion.

The reason why it has been delayed for so many days is naturally that the troops entering the city need to leave time to rectify the recalcitrant elements in the city.

As the former capital and accompanying capital of the Ming court, Jinling City has huge political influence, and many dignitaries and dignitaries of the Ming court live in the city.

It can be said that there are countless dignitaries and gentry in the city who are facing the Ming court, as well as ordinary wealthy households and even ordinary scholars.

For these people, the Great Chu Empire often turns a blind eye to other places. As long as you pay taxes honestly, do not openly rebel, and obey the rules of the Great Chu Empire, then the people of the Great Chu Empire And don't care about you.

But Jinling City is different, this place will soon be used as the capital.

Whether it's Luo Zhixue or the officials of the Great Chu Empire, he can't rest assured that he lives with a group of Ming court survivors, old and young, who have a heart for the Ming court.

Ever since, a large-scale clean-up and rectification is inevitable.

First, the Dongcheng District and Beicheng District, and then the entire city area were cleaned up on a large scale. After the rectification was completed, Luo Zhixue officially entered the city and stayed in Wei Guogong's mansion.

The other courtiers also entered the city one after another and stayed in the mansions assigned to them.

In the following period of time, a large number of family members of officials and soldiers of the Great Chu Empire will also move from Wuchang, Xiangyang and other places to Jinling City one after another.

From then on, Jinling City will become the new political, economic, and cultural center of the Great Chu Empire.

(End of this chapter)