Ming Empire

Chapter 203

Cao Yue knew that his aggressive measures might lead to resistance, and these generals even rebelled, but he was already prepared.

Cao Yue did not let them return to Nanjing, which was an important way to prepare for a rainy day. In addition to the Nanjing New Army, Xuzhou also stationed Gao Jie's troops. Gao Jie's troops were completely under the threat of the Nanjing New Army.

The rest of the troops are actually not far from Xuzhou and Nanjing. The Nanjing new army has 10,000+ troops, well-equipped, and super combat effectiveness. Cao Yue is confident that the joint rebellion of several warlords can also quell the rebellion.

However, he did not have any carelessness. After the imperial court issued the appointment of several warlords, he immediately ordered Cao Jie who retreated to Xuzhou and tens of thousands of troops who returned to Nanjing to enter the highest state of combat readiness. If they don't want to serve in Nanjing, then they will pre-emptively use the superior force to eliminate them.

However, the warlords north of the Yangtze River knew that things were in trouble when King Qin's army returned to Xuzhou and did not retreat. Cao Yue's deployment was to deal with them.They didn't dare to be careless and kept on strict precautions, but they didn't dare to take the initiative to cause trouble.

Afterwards, Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide and died for his country. The news came that Ding Wang Zhu Cijiong was enthroned with the support of Cao Yue and Sun Chuanting, and their appointments came soon.The dilemma before them was that following the imperial court's order to serve in Nanjing would definitely remove their military authority, but if they disobeyed, the Nanjing new army with strong combat effectiveness might launch an attack on them.

They are very clear about the combat effectiveness of the army trained by Cao Yue. Not to mention the great victories in the defense of Datong, this time they successfully rescued Queen Zhou and King Ding Zhu Cijiong from Beijing, and severely injured the chasing bandits. good proof.

Although these generals had no contact with Cao Yue, Cao Yue had recreated slaves and bandits several times, and no one dared to despise this young son-in-law, and some even regarded him as a military god.

But because of their vital interests, they will not give up their current income easily. It can be said that they are very difficult to make a choice!
But Cao Yue would not give them too much time to think about it.

When the new emperor came to the throne, the senior officials must be in place within the specified time, otherwise it would be disrespectful. If this happened, he would order the new Nanjing army to start action without hesitation.

In the historical records, after the establishment of the small imperial court in the Southern Ming Dynasty, he happened to pay more attention to the relevant records of the warlords such as the chief soldiers of the towns north of the Yangtze River and Zuo Liangyu who guarded Hubei after the establishment of the small imperial court in the Southern Ming Dynasty. Treating the people brutally, Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo eventually surrendered to the Manchu Qing, only one Huang Degong was considered loyal, but he often refused to listen to the court's orders.

Except for Huang Degong who can strive to use them, Cao Yue believes that only one kill can solve the future troubles.

The places where Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, and Liu Liangzuo lived were called the Four Towns of Jiangbei in history. Although the place where they are stationed now is different from the four towns of Jiangbei recorded in history, it is just that the places where they are stationed are different. It's just the same, they are still the four generals of the Ming army north of the Yangtze River who hold heavy troops in their hands, and together with Zuo Liangyu, they can be regarded as warlords who control the same place.

Because there are 10,000+ well-equipped Nanjing new troops in his hands, Cao Yue is not very worried about the chaos in the four towns in Jiangbei and Hubei.In addition, in the original history, these places were in a mess. Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing finally surrendered to the Manchu Qing and became the vanguard of the slavery and massacre of the Ming army. Countless soldiers and civilians of the Ming Dynasty died under their butcher knives.Moreover, these generals rebelled when Jiannu invaded the south, and now Jiannu is fighting fiercely with the rogues, moving them now will cause much less trouble than taking action after they rebelled.

When the new king was established, Cao Yue urgently needed a way to stabilize the places where the court could rule, so he hastily decided to confiscate the power of commanding the troops of the towns. Sun Chuanting disagreed. He believed that Cao Yue acted too hastily and would cause chaos.But he failed to convince Cao Yue, and the few other court ministers who knew Cao Yue's plan, such as Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu, could not persuade Cao Yue either.

After Cao Yue's army stopped advancing, he did not retreat to the front line of Nanjing, and he had already reserved his hands to solve this disaster. How could he let go of the opportunity and miss the good opportunity?It can be said that he started the action of confiscating the military command of these warlords bent on going his own way.

Cao Yue told Sun Chuanting and Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu and others who strongly opposed him to do so that they don't need their support too much, as long as they don't object and don't interfere. control of the military.In the end, Sun Chuanting, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu and others stopped talking, and they also wanted to see what method Cao Yue used to accomplish this.

When leading the army Qin Wang, he did not order the soldiers and horses of the four towns in Jiangbei to follow. Sun Chuanting and others also knew that Cao Yue despised the combat effectiveness of these armies, and another purpose of ordering the Nanjing new army to go north to Qin Wang was to take the opportunity to garrison In these garrisons, after the fall of Beijing, King Qin's army was not sent back to the front line of Nanjing to deal with the soldiers and horses of the four towns in Jiangbei. They could only marvel at Cao Yue's foresight.

Even Sun Chuanting looked at Cao Yue differently. This young man whom he was very optimistic about had a better strategy than he thought, and he had a higher opinion of Cao Yue.

After Cao Yue led the navy fleet back to Nanjing, he did not garrison all the troops. Thousands of soldiers of the most elite special guard battalion under his command were all gone. It was to cooperate with the subsequent conquest of the four towns in Jiangbei and the military power of Zuoliangyu Department in Hubei.

After receiving several consecutive appointments and orders urging them to take up posts in Nanjing, the first to make a decision was to station Huang Degong in Fengyang and Sizhou.Although he guessed that this trip might be risky and that the military power might be lifted, his indelible thought of loyalty to the emperor and his admiration for Cao Yue's military exploits made him obey the court's call as if resigned to his fate, and brought hundreds of soldiers with him. Leaving the station, went to Nanjing.

He hoped that his decisiveness and past performance would be appreciated by Cao Yue and he could continue to lead the army.

After knowing that Huang Degong left Fengyang, where he was stationed, and went to Nanjing, Liu Liangzuo, who was stationed in Linhuai, did not dare to disobey the imperial court's order. He also took hundreds of soldiers to Nanjing to serve.

Gao Jie was also on the sidelines, wanting to see how the general soldiers of the other three towns would act before making a decision. Seeing that both Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo obeyed the imperial court's order, after handing over their military power and going to Nanjing to serve, they were also forced to obey the imperial court's order. Hundreds of soldiers left the station and went to Nanjing to serve.

After they left the garrison, they all handed over the army to the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the court, who was their original commander-in-chief.They still have some residual hope, that is, they hope that these cronies can take control of the army well, and wait for them to return to take control one day.

However, Liu Zeqing took a different decision from the other three, resolutely refusing to implement the imperial court's order, and prepared to move his troops away from Qingzhou, where they were originally stationed, and return to Jeju.

(End of this chapter)