Phi-Fic Chapter 872: Troops approach the imperial capital: Yun is furious!
Chapter 872: Troops approach the imperial capital: Yun is furious!
Emperor Wenchu and his ministers were obviously overthinking it. Although Qingliu Pass fell, Li Che was not in a hurry to succeed.
The gate to the imperial capital has been opened. The Feng army advances step by step in an orderly manner, and the whole world is in their pocket.
So what if the aristocratic family ran away?
The world is so big, where can they run to?
Unless they are cruel enough to go to Southeast Asia and establish a Singapore in advance.
Of course, going overseas is useless.
Li Che has cannons and ships, so he can declare: Southeast Asia has been an inseparable territory of Feng State since ancient times!
Compared to hunting down these stray dogs, Li Che was more concerned about maintaining a steady offensive rhythm.
He first ordered Yang Xuan and others to immediately send troops to attack Chuzhou and surrounding cities.
Most of the defenders in these places had not received the notification of the fall of Qingliu Pass, but they were shocked to find that the Fengtian Army’s flags were already flying under the city.
Before the Fengtian Army raised the muzzles of their artillery, the defenders of Chuzhou City surrendered first.
Other cities also came to the rescue and surrendered, and the Jianghuai hinterland was quickly brought under Li Che's control.
New territory was acquired and tens of thousands of prisoners were captured.
Together with the tens of thousands of Southern Army prisoners who surrendered at Qingliu Pass, there were already more than 100,000 prisoners of war, forming a group that could not be ignored.
If they were all left at Qingliu Pass, it would not only consume food and fodder but would also be a major security risk.
Li Che had already made an imperial plan for this. He ordered that these surrendered soldiers be dispersed and escorted to Shouzhou, Haozhou, Sizhou and other places that had been controlled in the rear, and then be guarded by the garrisons in various places.
At the same time, the political commissars accompanying the army immediately took action, going deep into the surrendered soldiers to carry out propaganda and ideological transformation.
Most of these lower-level soldiers were from good families or came from poor backgrounds. They were oppressed by the powerful and wealthy families, and were not the ones they needed to defeat.
As long as the political commissars preached Fengguo's land policy, light taxes and levies, equality between officers and soldiers, and exposed the harm of the aristocratic families, they would surely awaken their consciousness of resistance as the oppressed.
After this series of combined punches, I believe it won’t be long before most of these surrendered soldiers will recognize the situation and become a force supporting the new dynasty.
Afterwards, Li Che gave Yelu He another crucial task.
He was ordered to lead his elite barbarian cavalry and spare no effort to seize all important ferry crossings and docks leading to the imperial capital, especially the key nodes on the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Controlling these places is equivalent to strangling the army's lifeline for crossing the river.
Yelu He and his cavalry attacked overnight and arrived at the dock in the middle of the night.
At this moment, the garrison at the dock was still dreaming, but was blocked in bed by a group of barbarian cavalry and surrendered without a fight.
Yelu He not only seized the dock as soon as possible, but also discovered dozens of large and small ships in a hidden reed marsh in a river bend.
These ships have a shallow draft and are mostly river boats, suitable for sailing on the Yangtze River and its tributaries.
The captives identified these boats as the escape route Zhai Yan had reserved for himself, ready to escape south across the river if necessary.
Now, this escape route has fallen into Li Che's hands intact.
In this way, the Fengtian Army had the ability to cross the river immediately without having to wait for Li Sheng's fleet to move from the Huaihe River to the Yangtze River.
After making these arrangements to stabilize the rear, Li Che's gaze finally turned to the vast and misty Yangtze River.
He ordered Generals Chen Pingzhi, Wang Sanchun and Zhu Chun to lead the elite troops of the Fengtian Army to assemble towards the dock.
At the same time, coordinate warships, requisition civilian ships, and prepare military equipment.
After finding out the situation in the imperial capital, the army was divided into three groups and marched towards the imperial capital.
After arranging everything in an orderly manner, Li Che summoned his trusted and beloved general Yue Yun.
"Your Majesty, you are looking for me?"
Li Che nodded slowly: "I have an errand here, I feel relieved to hand it over to you."
Yue Yun's face turned serious, and he clasped his fists and said, "I am willing to go through fire and water for Your Highness!"
Li Che nodded slowly, then said, "I grant you eight thousand elite cavalrymen and order you to be the vanguard of the entire army. Set out immediately and attack the imperial capital!"
When Yue Yun heard this, he felt a surge of heroic spirit in his heart.
He is well aware of the weight of this task.
As the vanguard of the entire army, he was the first to arrive at the imperial capital. Regardless of whether there was a subsequent battle, it was enough to leave a significant mark in the history books!
Your Majesty has entrusted me with this important task, which shows your trust in me.
"I obey your command! I will live up to your majesty's trust!" Yue Yun knelt on one knee, his eyes as firm as iron.
Li Che patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Go ahead. I allow you to act according to the circumstances, but the main purpose is to find out the current situation of the imperial capital. There is no need to risk attacking the city."
"Now that the overall situation has been determined, the Fengtian Army will unify the country sooner or later. We don't need to take any more risks. We should prioritize stability."
"You will finally understand."
Yue Yun did not dare to delay in the slightest. After leaving the tent, he immediately assembled eight thousand elite cavalry.
Everyone was equipped with two horses, wore armor, checked bows, crossbows, swords and guns to ensure they were in perfect condition.
The marching route was carefully considered, and even the scouts were spread out ten miles away like a net to guard against ambushes.
In order to ensure that everything went smoothly, he even used the reconnaissance hot air balloon specially allocated by Li Che.
The huge balloon slowly rose into the air under the operation of several engineers. The lookout in the basket had a high and far-reaching vision, which was enough to see the situation dozens of miles ahead and pass it on to the army below through flag signals.
"set off!"
With Yue Yun's order, eight thousand cavalrymen swept southward along the official road at lightning speed.
The sound of horse hooves was like thunder, striking the land of Jianghuai, and the dust raised covered the sky.
They bypassed the scattered strongholds on the road, ignored the small groups of fleeing soldiers, and headed straight for the imperial capital.
Along the way, the hot air balloons kept sending signals of "safe ahead" and "clear road", and the scouts did not find any signs of large-scale enemy troop movements.
Yue Yun became more and more anxious and excited.
After a whole day of forced march, on the afternoon of the second day, Yue Yun finally saw the majestic and continuous outline of the imperial capital on the distant horizon.
Although tired, all the cavalrymen were in high spirits.
That's the imperial capital. Although many of these cavalrymen have accompanied Li Che south to the imperial capital more than once, this time is completely different...
The previous times I came to see the emperor, but this time I came to be the emperor!
Yue Yun's heart beat faster and his blood boiled.
He suppressed his excitement and ordered his troops to organize their formation, slow down their pace, and prepare to march to the city in the most majestic manner.
At the same time, Yue Yun did not lose his vigilance and sent his most capable scouts forward to conduct close reconnaissance.
He reined in his warhorse, raised the high-precision telescope that was standard equipment for Fengtian Army generals, looked at the huge city in the distance, and prepared to carefully observe the defense situation on the city wall.
The telescope's vision gradually became clearer. The imperial capital was silent and there was no sign of panic.
On the top of the city wall, there were soldiers standing guard every few steps, showing a calm demeanor in the face of danger. The Fengtian Army flags on the top of the city wall were fluttering happily in the wind.
and many more!
The excitement on Yueyun's face froze instantly!
That thing fluttering in the wind...is the Fengtian Army flag?!
His pupils suddenly contracted, he slowly put down the telescope and rubbed his eyes.
Then he raised the telescope and looked again.
You are not mistaken, that thing flying high on the top of the city wall... is a huge flag with the word "Feng" written on a dark background!
And there is more than one flag. On top of the main city gate towers and corner towers of the imperial capital, you can clearly see the familiar flag fluttering in the wind!
So, Yun was furious!
"Asshole!!!"
Damn it! Which unconventional bastard actually stole my credit?