My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 251 Some are happy and some are sad

Just as the army led by Xu Da was waiting for supplies from Yingtian Prefecture, the news of the defeat of the 200,000-strong Annan army also reached Yingtian Prefecture.

The entire court and the country were shocked once again. The 20,000 Ming troops defeated the 200,000 enemy troops. This was an unprecedented victory.

Zhu Yuanzhang was also overjoyed. At first, when he received the news that the army was divided in Chelifu, he was still a little worried. Was Xu Da being a little too arrogant to dare to charge into Laos with only 25,000 people?

For this purpose, he specially issued a military order to Fu Youde, asking Fu Youde to immediately send a large army to support if there was any change in the war in Laos. Unexpectedly, the old friend gave him a big surprise.

However, the consumption of bullets was a bit shocking to him, and then Yang Siyi did the math for him.

Before the needle-fired rifle was equipped, the Ming army launched several northern expeditions, and each time the number of casualties was over ten thousand. According to the "Order on Relief for Officers and Soldiers" personally issued by Zhu Yuanzhang, the first-class pension for the wounded was 30 taels of silver, the second-class pension for the wounded was 25 taels of silver, the third-class pension for the wounded was 20 taels of silver, and the pension for those killed in action was 50 taels of silver. For those who had elderly, children, women and children at home who needed to be supported, the pension would be calculated on a per-person basis.

For officers, the pension will be even higher.

Therefore, after each Northern Expedition, the expenditure on relief silver alone was at least over 300,000 taels.

Last year, after the troops were equipped with needle-shot rifles, the Northern Expedition lasted for several months. According to statistics, the number of people injured by the enemy, those who fell ill on the way, and those who were accidentally injured, all added up to no more than a few thousand. The number of people killed in battle was even smaller, and the amount of relief silver spent was no more than a few tens of thousands of taels.

And this time in the southern expedition, apart from a hundred or so unlucky injured men, there were no soldiers killed in battle, so even the pension money was saved.

Moreover, with the help of alcohol, those unfortunate injured guys can just heal their wounds and go back into battle to kill the enemy.

In comparison, the mere tens of thousands of taels of money for bullets is just a drop in the bucket.

More importantly, this astonishing record of battle also brought the confidence and admiration of the Ming army to a new level among the government and the public.

After receiving the news, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately dispatched a transport team to urgently deliver 10 million rounds of ammunition and various food supplies to the army heading south.

At the same time, he also ordered Fang Xiaoru to print new newspapers and periodicals as soon as possible to spread the news of the Ming army's great victory throughout the country.

At the same time, a communiqué was issued to all vassal states, stating that Annan had suddenly invaded the Laotian Xuanweisi and that the Annan army had been completely annihilated under the attack of the Ming army.

In fact, after the battle, the Ming army itself was shocked by the result. They could not believe that they had fought this battle. Twenty thousand troops against two hundred thousand, and only a few hundred people were injured. What kind of magical battle was this?

At the beginning, they themselves could not believe that they were so powerful, but once they accepted the idea that "I am so awesome", they began to yell one by one, wanting to charge directly to Jiaozhou Prefecture in Annan and give the traitors a little shock to the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, this still belongs to the radical faction, while the conservatives in the Ming army think that the radical faction is too conservative.

For example, Li Jinglong thought he was invincible as soon as the war was over. As soon as he returned to the rear camp, he broke into the general's tent and clamored with Li Wenzhong to conquer the Western countries and let the flag of the Ming Dynasty spread all over the world.

Zhu Di and Xu Huizu couldn't stop him until Li Wenzhong gave him a few big blows, and his eyes suddenly became clear.

Of course, the most excited ones were Suwang and other local officials. The Ming army swept through the Annan army with thundering force like gods descending from heaven. What was this? This was revenge from their in-laws. As ministers of the Ming Dynasty, their positions in the Lao Xuanwei Office would be more stable in the future.

Even many Laotian scholars compiled this war into popular poems and stories to spread the victory of the Ming army.

As the saying goes, some are happy while others are sad. While the Ming Dynasty and Laos were in great joy, there were two completely different atmospheres in Annan.

The one who was happy was, of course, the Annan King Chen Riwei. After the Ming envoys left, he fell into despair. He worried every day whether Le Jilian would attack him. Even though Le Jilian invaded Laos in his name, he was still worried because after the army set out, it would mean that Le Jilian and the Ming Dynasty had already torn their faces apart. As for him, the dispensable Annan King, he really became a fish on the chopping board. When he would be slaughtered depended on Le Jilian's mood.

Being able to open my eyes every morning is the greatest happiness, but I still have to pray for the Buddha’s blessings. Living a life of fear like this is really not a life for human beings.

However, after the news of the disastrous defeat of the Annan army reached back home, he immediately perked up. Although the court was controlled by Li Jilian, it was not a monolithic entity. Many ministers had previously submitted to him out of fear of Li Jilian's tyranny.

At this moment, Li Jilian suffered a crushing defeat and his prestige was seriously challenged. Not to mention the fence-sitting ministers in the court, even the army under his control would probably be extremely dissatisfied with him.

Chen Riwei began to send people to secretly contact ministers in the court. At this time, there was a gloomy atmosphere in Li Jilan's prime minister's mansion.

When Li Jilian received the news, it was like a bolt from the blue and he froze in place. In his opinion, the worst result would be heavy casualties, or at worst a fifty-fifty fight with the Ming army, which relied heavily on firearms.

But what we got now was that half of the 200,000-man army were killed or wounded, and the other half became prisoners of the Ming Dynasty. It was truly a complete annihilation, without any discount!

Even if the sky fell, it would not make him so devastated, but the disastrous defeat in the march into Laos made him feel like the end of the world was coming.

All the people in Annan, from teenagers to fifty-year-old men, were forced to join the army. They could only barely gather an army of 500,000 by all means. Now they lost 200,000 troops, which was tantamount to a disaster for them.

The army was the pillar of support for Prime Minister Li. Now, this pillar was torn to pieces by the Ming army. Moreover, the two generals who were most loyal to him, Ruan Duofang and Fan Keyong, were captured by the Ming army. Most of the remaining generals would become disloyal.

What's even more terrible is that the Ming army will attack soon. Even if he can still completely control the military, there will be less than 200,000 soldiers who can be mobilized to fight.

When people are in despair, they often make even more confused decisions. However, for Li Jilian, he no longer has any way out at this time.

He had to replenish his strength immediately, otherwise, not to mention Chen Riwei who had already begun to secretly contact the ministers in the court, the backlash from the army alone would be enough to cause him trouble.

He wants to mobilize the private soldiers of the gentry!
Back then, when the Mongolian army penetrated deep into the territory of Annan, it was only with the help of local militia and private soldiers that the Mongols were driven out. Now he wants to use the same trick again and let the local militia and private soldiers deal with the Ming army.

As for how to mobilize the private soldiers of the gentry, the only way is to promote them to higher positions and appoint them as generals according to the number of troops they send out.

Just as Li Jilian was frantically mobilizing local militia and private soldiers, the Ming army stationed in Laos finally received supplies from Yingtian Prefecture.

Along with the supplies came the same secret decree from Zhu Yuanzhang to Xu Da and Li Wenzhong.

After carefully reading the secret decree in the commander's tent, the two men couldn't help but gasp.

The content of the secret decree made the two veteran generals want to pay homage to Zhu Yuanzhang who was far away in Yingtian Prefecture.

Li Wenzhong was half surprised, half smiling and said to Xu Da: "Tsk tsk, this strategy is a bit too cruel, isn't it a bit against the harmony of nature?"

Xu Da didn't care. "What's the harm to nature? If this great thing that benefits the country and the people can be implemented, it will be in line with benevolent governance!
Besides, this cruelty depends on who you are targeting. It is indeed cruel to the landlords in Annan, but for the common people, it is a great thing. "

Li Wenzhong approached Xu Da and asked mysteriously, "You said that this method of beating up the local tyrants and dividing the land was really thought up by your Majesty alone?"

Xu Da was stunned, then he and Li Wenzhong looked at each other, and they both said at the same time: "What a strange man!"

(End of this chapter)