A century-old family that runs through the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 25 Zhang Shicheng’s suffering, Lu Zhen’s army marches to Quzhou

At night, the city gate of Hangzhou City suddenly opened, and an army of horses walked out of it and headed southwest quickly.

a few days later.

Soochow general Lu Zhen suddenly appeared at the foot of Zhuquan City. However, this was the front line and the soldiers were heavily guarded. Therefore, although the Soochow army made a surprise attack, the results were not great. The Soochow army quickly stabilized its position and seemed to be like before. Several attacks were like that and reached a stalemate.

Who would have expected that during the fierce battle between the two sides, the city gate would suddenly be opened and the entire city would be lost in an instant!What is a pity is that the defender Hu Shen ran very fast and successfully broke through with most of the Xiwu army.

However, this was still a huge victory for the Soochow Army. Zhuquancheng was like a fish bone in the throat, making Soochow very uncomfortable.Now that it was finally conquered, Lu Zhen was about to cry with joy.

He recalled the secret letter from the Governor of Western Wu that Zhang Shicheng showed him.

"The puppet king Zhu Yuanzhang ordered me to lead an army of [-] to the east of Jiangxi in order to attack the King of Wu (Zhang Shicheng). I originally wanted to lead an army to rebel, but there were his trusted generals Yu Tonghai and Tang He in the army. They divided my authority and could not directly Surrender to the King of Wu. Our army is currently stationed in Quzhou, and I already have half of it. Please send the King of Wu to capture the whole army first, and then cooperate with me internally and externally to capture Quzhou, and then the puppet king will be in chaos!"

"Please rest assured, King Wu. There are people close to me in the city who will open the city gates and help you attack the city."

Zhang Shicheng and Lu Zhen had doubts about the authenticity of this letter. However, Xiwu was still continuously attacking cities and territories at this time. Although their troops had not yet been directed at Soochow, they had basically captured the two provinces of Huguang and Jiangxi. At the same time, Occupying western Zhejiang, Yuan Ting and the remnants of Chen Youliang were no match at all. The power of Xiwu became stronger and stronger, and they had a strong sense of crisis.

So what are Soochow doing during this time?
Defeat Changxing and Zhuquan.

In June of the 19th year of Zhizheng, Zhang Shicheng sent Lu Zhen to besiege Zhuquanzhou. Lu Zhen stored water and wanted to flood Zhuquan. However, after the dam was built, Hu Dahai snatched it away, and instead the Soochow army was completely flooded.

In September of the 20th year of Zhizheng, Zhang Shicheng sent Lu Zhen and Xu Yi soldiers in three groups to attack Changxing, which was guarded by Geng Bingwen, with great momentum.However, in just a few days, it was "bigly defeated and many ships were captured."

In November of the 21st year of Zhizheng, Zhang Shicheng once again sent troops to Changxing. Situ Li Bosheng led an army of 10,000+, marched by land and water, formed Jiuzhaigou, used buildings and carts, filled the moat, and used fireboats to burn water passes, day and night.Geng Bingwen only had 7000 men, but he held on for more than a month. When Chang Yuchun arrived, Li Boxheng was defeated and retreated.

In March of the 22nd year of Zhengzheng, Zhang Shixin led his army to encircle Zhuquan. The defender Xie Zaixing sent Li Zishi and Gan Rujue to set up an ambush outside the city. He went out to fight from the south gate and attacked from both sides, defeating Zhang Shixin.

In February of the 23rd AD, Zhang Shicheng sent Li Boxheng to lead an army to attack Zhuquan. However, the 60-strong army (so-called) was unable to reach this fortified city, and Li Boxheng had no choice but to retreat.

In addition to these, Zhang Shicheng also tried to capture Jiande and was defeated twice by Zhu Wenzhong; he attacked Changzhou and was defeated by Tang He; he attacked Jiangyin and was defeated by Wu Liang twice; he attacked Fenshui and was defeated by He Shiming...

Soochow seems to have been cursed, and it just can't defeat Xiwu.Even Xie Zaixing, who was brave and resourceful before, was defeated by Zhu Wenzhong in Yiwu after defecting to Soochow.

To put it simply, Zhang Shicheng had a few small victories in his battles with Zhu Yuanzhang, but he never won the key battle.Xie Zaixing, the only rebel general, was not because Zhang Shicheng had done a good job in estrangement or other tricks, but because Lao Zhu himself inexplicably married other people's daughters. The eldest daughter was given a hand in marriage to Zhu Wenzheng, and the second daughter was given a hand in hand to Xu Da. But he didn't even tell this veteran who was in the same batch as Chang Yuchun, so he got it wrong.

What's even more awesome is that Xie Zaixing's second daughter gave birth to Xu Da's eldest son Xu Huizu and eldest daughter Xu. Xu later married Zhu Yuanzhang's fourth son... In other words, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty basically had this traitorous general. Bloodline...but that's a story for another day.

It is precisely because of repeated defeats that the entire Soochow is now in urgent need of a victory!
Moreover, according to their ears and eyes, Zhu Wenzheng was indeed scolded by Zhu Yuanzhang once, and was imprisoned in the mansion for several days (actually he was imprisoned). Looking at his words and deeds, Zhang Shicheng felt that, let alone Zhu Yuanzhang, No monarch can bear it, so Zhu Wenzheng's rebellion is very credible!
And the fall of Zhuquan City left Lu Zhen and Zhang Shicheng no longer in doubt!
The reason is very simple. Behind Zhu Quan is Quzhou!Quzhou is an important territory of Zhu Yuanzhang's Western Wu in western Zhejiang. If Quzhou falls, it means that western Zhejiang has basically fallen. At the same time, the Soochow army can also march straight into Jiangxi Province. Zhu Yuanzhang is equivalent to exposing his belly to Zhang Shicheng. Therefore, Quzhou is not unimportant.At the same time, Zhuquan is very close to Hangzhou and can threaten this ancient city at any time, which is of great strategic significance.

Zhu Yuanzhang could not give up this city, so it seems that Zhu Wenzheng really rebelled.

Then the next step is Quzhou!

Without stopping, Lu Zhen immediately set off from Zhuquan with her [-] troops, aiming directly at Quzhou!
If everything goes well, this battle will be a battle to reverse the situation!
Within a few days, Quzhou was clearly in sight.

At this time, Quzhou had received news that Zhuquan City had been lost. Tang He and Yu Tonghai hurried to Zhu Wenzheng's residence.

Not long after, a fierce quarrel broke out in Zhu Wenzheng's mansion.

"Grand Governor! The enemy army is approaching, how can you be so slack and still be with a brothel girl...how can you be worthy of His Highness's great trust in you!"

"Why not? I have made such great achievements in Hongdu, what's wrong with enjoying it? That Zhu Wenzhong or that Yan Ling, aren't they very powerful? Let them stop Lu Zhen."

"Grand Governor, be careful! Now is not the time to be angry. Let's quickly discuss how to defend ourselves against the enemy."

"Lu Zhen, a child with only 10 troops, frightened you into this kind of behavior. Back then, Chen Youliang's 60-strong army was regarded as nothing by me. Oh, it's no wonder that you are under me. It's rare for me, an uncle, to be able to judge people accurately." .”

"You! Zhu Wenzheng, you are going too far!"

In the yard, the grumpy Yu Tonghai almost got into a fight with Zhu Wenzheng, but Tang He held him tightly.

"Yudushi, please remember, I am the marshal of this army! Now, disappear from my house immediately! Pull them out of here!"

The two generals Yu Tonghai and Tang He were pushed out of Zhu Wenzheng's mansion, and the door was closed tightly behind them.

Yu Tonghai, who was born in the Chaohu navy, couldn't stand such humiliation and kept scolding him all the way.

And all this is seen by a pair of eyes.

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(End of this chapter)