Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 39, Attack on Yancheng

When they got outside, they saw Wu Yuan, Ma Laohei, Niu Jin, and Li Sheng, all of whom shouted in unison:

"General!"

Fang Yong nodded, took Daiyu's hand, and introduced:

"This is my wife."

Seeing this, the four people hurriedly said:

"Meet Madam!"

Daiyu's heart skipped a beat and she instinctively looked at Fang Yong, only to see Fang Yong blinking at her.

Daiyu pinched Fang Yong's palm angrily, but on the surface she still cooperated and said:

"No need to be polite, please stand up!"

The few of them continued forward and when they came outside, they found that a force of 50,000 had already been assembled.

When Daiyu took one look, her pupils trembled instantly.

The crowd of 50,000 was vast and boundless, like a dark cloud covering the sky, solemn and orderly, stretching endlessly until it reaches the horizon.

Even though Daiyu was calm, she couldn't help trembling with fear.

Xiao Xueyan was so scared that she hid behind Fang Yong.

Fang Yong held Daiyu's hand tightly, which made her feel much more at ease.

"Now you believe that I am not a robber."

Daiyu nodded.

She believed it.

They are definitely not looters.

But it's worse than looters.

There are so many troops, but not a single sign of the imperial court...

Fang Yong: “Let’s go!”

This march was carried out by land.

The route was planned by Wu Yuan.

According to Wu Yuan, this route was opened up by the White Lotus Sect during the Kangning period to smuggle salt out. It was very covert and could avoid being discovered by the court.

Fang Yong couldn't help but sigh that the White Lotus Sect had a very wide range of influence.

The army set out towards Yancheng.

On the way, Daiyu asked Fang Yong.

"Why take this step?"

Daiyu has always been smart and clever. When Xiao Xueyan was still foolishly asking Fang Yong what rank of general he was, Daiyu had already guessed Fang Yong's identity.

Fang Yong did not directly answer Daiyu's question, but asked in return:
"Sister, you are well-read, you have read all the books in the past dynasties, why is it so, don't you know it?"

Daiyu lowered her eyes.

"Has it reached that point..."

Fang Yong smiled and said, "I'll take my sister to see it in person in a few days and she'll know."

A few days later, the troops approached the Yancheng area.

There was no point in hiding any longer.

Fang Yong directly ordered the troops to launch an attack, with Fu County being the first to bear the brunt!

This is a county before Yancheng. Yancheng is right after Fu County.

At this time, the magistrate of Fu County was completely unaware of the danger.

When Fang Yong had just captured Huaizhou, the magistrate of Fu County was a little nervous because he heard that the Huaiyin bandits had already occupied Huaizhou and would most likely attack the Fu County area next.

The magistrate of Fu County made sufficient preparations for this!
But news soon came.

When the imperial army arrived, the Huaiyin bandits had already fled.

The magistrate of Fu County relaxed his vigilance.

Then, there was a huge cannon shot, boom!

The magistrate of Fu County was so shocked that he almost rolled off the bed.

What followed was a continuous burst of artillery fire and shouts of killing.

The magistrate of Fu County was shocked, and his trusted subordinates came running in to report.

"Oh no, oh no, sir, the Huaiyin bandits have broken in!"

The magistrate of Fu County was shocked and asked quickly:
"How many people came?"

The confidant trembled and said, "It's too numerous to count. There are Huaiyin bandits everywhere, and they are endless. There must be at least 700,000 or 800,000 of them!"

Upon hearing this, the magistrate of Fu County was so frightened that he fell off the bed with a thump, and hurriedly said, "Quick, quick, quick, notify the county lieutenant to go to the storehouse to get the treasure I prepared to defend against the enemy!"

The confidant said: "The county lieutenant has sent people to pry open the storehouse, steal the treasure for defending against the enemy, and present it to the leader of the Huaiyin bandits!"

The magistrate of Fu County was shocked: "What? Damn it! This coward has ruined my plan. Fortunately, I have made preparations. Go to my private vault. I have prepared another treasure to defend against the enemy."

However, Fang Yong led his troops to attack the city and successfully captured Funing County in an instant.

The whole process was effortless. The county lieutenant surrendered with his county soldiers and presented a great gift.

It was a golden jade brick with two lines of words engraved on it.

First Couplet: The Huai River flows eastwards, heroes look north to hear the sound of iron hooves.

Second line: The whole city offers tribute, and people admire and want to surrender early!

In addition, there were several silver bills stacked under the gold bricks. According to conservative estimates, the value of the banknotes was about tens of thousands of taels.

Fang Yong laughed.

"Okay, okay, a wise man is a wise man. Don't worry, I won't treat you unfairly!"

As he was speaking, he saw a man in a green county magistrate's uniform hurrying towards him from a distance. He had a broad forehead, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a righteous demeanor. In his sleeves...he held two boxes.

"Song Yingge, the magistrate of Fu County, pays his respects to General Fang!"

Song Yingge knelt down on his knees and presented the two boxes high.

Fang Yong opened one and saw that it was a jade carving of a dragon head and several silver bills. Below it was a sandalwood base inlaid with gold, with a line of poetry engraved on it.

I hope the general has surrendered, and the whole county hopes for peace and stability.

Fish become quiet in the deep abyss; swallows fly away from the dangerous tent.

Fang Yong couldn't help but sneer, and opened another box, only to see a booklet inside.

"Fuxian Land Survey Book."

Fang Yong smiled a little more this time.

"Well, well, with the two of you in Fu County, there's no need to worry about the people being in turmoil!"

Now the question is, if neither the county lieutenant nor the magistrate will treat the patient unfairly, then who will be treated unfairly?
County Magistrate...

Soldiers are valuable and quick.

Fang Yong's army did not stay in Fu County for long after occupying it.
Instead, he continued to rush towards Yancheng without stopping.

As one of the important coastal cities, Yancheng’s defense is not strong, especially compared with Huaizhou.

There were only two thousand troops stationed in Yancheng area, with beacon towers built along the coast. The city wall was about two meters high. Compared with the city wall of Huaizhou that was more than three meters high, Yancheng was much shorter.

The main reason for this situation is that Yancheng’s defense system is mainly designed to guard against overseas Japanese pirates and pirates, and its defense capabilities on land are not outstanding.

After all, there are five large cities for defense around Yancheng: Haizhou, Zhongwu, Huaizhou, Yangzhou and Hailing. These cities are connected to each other and have tight defenses. In theory, it is impossible for the enemy to break through at will.

And if these cities were conquered, there would naturally be no need to defend Yancheng.

When Fang Yong's army arrived, the beacon tower in Yancheng had already been lit.

There is nothing that can be done about it. The soldiers and civilians in Yancheng are not fools and it is impossible that they will not discover the 50,000-strong army.

"Siege!"

Fang Yong didn't waste any time and directly ordered an attack on the city.

It was getting dark at this time, which was strictly speaking not the best time to attack the city.

But in comparison, the hastily deployed defenders in Yancheng were in a greater disadvantage.

With an army of 50,000 at the gates of the city, the defenders, who had only fought pirates before, had never seen such a scene before.

"Boom boom boom!"

Cannon fire rang out.

After the last artillery attack on Huaizhou, Fang Yong trained many more artillerymen. Now that there were enough artillerymen, all 40 artillery pieces were pulled up and fired at the same time, directly beating the defenders of Yancheng so hard that they dared not show their heads.

On the other side, the capital.

Emperor Longqing laughed while holding the battle report in his hand.

"Hahaha, the White Lotus rebel army is vulnerable. The Duke of Shanguo has already captured Nanjing. The demise of the White Lotus rebels is just around the corner!"

Dai Quan was a little shocked, "So fast!"

Emperor Longqing handed the military report to Dai Quan, who started reading it.

I saw that Duke Shan wrote in the military newspaper:
The traitor Bai Lian was ignorant of military strategies and had no discipline. He molested women on the city walls at night and did not even notice the city was breached.

Now that Nanjing has fallen, the White Lotus rebels' food and grass have been cut off, and their retreat route has been cut off, so they will be defeated in no time. However, the rebels in Huaizhou and Huaiyin have great ambitions and should not be ignored. I request that a detachment of troops be sent to investigate the situation of the rebels in Huaiyin.

Emperor Longqing was very satisfied with the battle of Duke Shanguo in Nanjing, but he was a little unsure about the final request of Duke Shanguo to divide the troops.

"Call the Minister of War, Guo Bai!"

(End of this chapter)