Chapter 485: The strategic retreat of the Tianxiong Army and the Jin Army, the opening victory is too simple

“Your Majesty, we cannot defend Luoyang City. We must retreat south tonight!”

Lu Xiang looked at Prince Fu Zhu Changxun, who was trembling all over like a sieve in front of him, frowned slightly, and spoke bluntly.

They could give up Luoyang City. After all, the Fuxing Army’s army was approaching, and with the strength of their Tianxiong Army, they would definitely not be able to defend it.

But Emperor Chongzhen’s third uncle, Prince Fu, could not allow it to fall into the hands of thieves.

Ever since Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, his obsession with face has been well known to the civil and military officials in the court.

Once Lu Xiangsheng abandoned Prince Fu’s family and fled south, he would inevitably be held accountable afterwards.

It is very likely that the furious Emperor Chongzhen ordered the extermination of Lu Xiangsheng’s entire family.

After all, of the five biological sons of Chongzhen’s grandfather, Emperor Wanli, only Prince of Fu Zhu Changxun and Prince of Gui Zhu Changying are left.

Therefore, the status of Prince Fu and Prince Gui is far beyond that of other princes of the Ming Dynasty.

“General Lu, retreating south is feasible.”

Prince Fu Zhu Changxun nodded his head repeatedly with a pale face. His fat body was trembling. “But we have too much wealth and food in Prince Fu’s Mansion. We can’t move all of it away in a short time!”

“These fortunes are hard to come by, how can we give them up so easily? Not to mention being taken over by the Restoration Army…”

He values ​​money more than anything else. Ever since he was granted the title of Duke of Luoyang, he has been amassing wealth on a massive scale. The wealth and supplies he has accumulated over the years are enough to make him truly wealthy enough to rival a country.

In terms of wealth alone, he and the Tang Palace in Shu are the top two among the kings of the Ming Dynasty.

“Yes!”

Zhu Yousong, the prince of Prince Fu, interrupted and said, “Our fleet of Prince Fu’s palace is parked at the Luo River wharf outside the south city. If the treasure ships are fully loaded, they can at least move about half of the money and grain supplies.”

“The problem is that we don’t have enough time. From this afternoon till tonight, we can’t even move even 10% of the space!”

“General Lu, how about you ask your soldiers to come and help with the transportation?”

Zhu Yousong was much more sober and wise than the fifty-year-old Prince Fu, and was not so stingy. “If the soldiers can come to help, the money and food consumed by the soldiers in their retreat to the south will be paid by the Prince Fu’s Mansion!”

Prince Fu and his son have always been domineering and do not take the civil and military officials seriously, but they are not stupid after all. They also know that this is a matter of life and death, so they have to beg the other party humbly.

The Prince of Fu’s family has always been closely watched by His Majesty, who is deeply afraid that they will rebel. Even their family servants and personal soldiers are few in number, only a mere 5,000 people in total.

With such a small force, they were unable to guarantee their own safety while fleeing south of Luoyang City.

“This… is okay too.”

Having been stationed in Luoyang City for nearly a year, the three brothers Lu Xiangsheng naturally knew how wealthy the Prince Fu’s Palace was.

Lu Xiangguan was of course very jealous that Prince Fu, who valued money as his life, could agree to provide military supplies for the Tianxiong Army’s retreat to the south, so he nodded and said, “When midnight arrives tonight, it will be time for us to leave Luoyang City and retreat to the south.”

“Only in this way can we avoid the eyes of the Restoration Army under the cover of night and reduce the risk of being chased by the enemy.”

“So we all have to speed up our actions. No matter how much money and food supplies are successfully transported, the rest must be abandoned.”

After fighting against the Fusion Army for so long, Lu Xiangguan was well aware of how terrifying the Fusion Army was.

If you are too greedy for money, you probably won’t be able to leave even if you want to.

“That’s…ok.”

Zhu Changxun, the fat prince of Fu weighing more than 300 kilograms, changed his expression when he heard this, and the corner of his mouth twitched. He said, “I will immediately order all the staff of the Prince of Fu’s Mansion to start transferring property and materials to the fleet at the Luo River wharf outside the city.”

To be honest, if it wasn’t absolutely necessary, Zhu Changxun really didn’t want to leave Luoyang City.

He has too deep roots here and has accumulated too much money and materials. How can he be willing to give up part of them?

However, Prince Fu had long heard about the Fuxing Army’s campaign to exterminate all the princes, nobles and gentry. Now he was frightened and naturally would not stay in Luoyang City.

So far, many princes of the Ming Dynasty have had their property confiscated and their families exterminated by Li Dingguo. As long as Zhu Changxun is not stupid, he will naturally be afraid.

Since there were only 30,000 Tianxiong Army soldiers stationed at Mengjin Ferry north of Luoyang City, the Tianxiong Army suffered little losses after the fall of Mengjin Ferry.

Following the order from the brothers Lu Xiangguan and Lu Xiangjin, the 270,000 Tianxiong Army soldiers stationed in the military camp in Luoyang City began to evacuate Luoyang City to the south.

In addition to the large number of troops mobilized by Prince Fu’s palace, countless large carriages loaded with various treasures and supplies hurried to the large wharf on the Luo River outside the city, which immediately made the officials and gentry in this ancient capital city unable to sit still.

After learning that the Fuxing Army was about to arrive and the Tianxiong Army was preparing to protect Prince Fu’s family and evacuate Luoyang City, an uproar was caused!

They had long been frightened by the Renaissance Army’s purge, and were all anxious and trying to find ways to quickly evacuate Luoyang City.

Fortunately, the Tianxiong Army was well-known, and upon seeing the situation, Lu Xiangguan mobilized 50,000 elite soldiers to maintain order in the city, so that no major chaos was caused.

As for the tens of millions of ordinary people in this ancient capital of Six Dynasties, although they were a little panicked, they were not too panicked.

The rumored Renaissance Army would not harm ordinary people like them at all. Even if they wanted to leave their homes and flee, they simply couldn’t do it.

As ordinary people without much military power, they are totally unqualified to flee to distant places.

In this big world, the dangers in the wild are too great, and without the protection of a large army, ordinary people cannot migrate safely.

It is better to stay and wait and see what happens. The chance of survival is higher.

Moreover, the Fuxing Army has been rising for so long, and the various policies it has promulgated have long been spread throughout the world, and most of the Han people have heard of them.

It was a rather chaotic day that passed in such a noisy manner.

By the next morning, the entire Luoyang city had become strangely quiet.

Even the gangs, gambling houses, brothels and other evil forces disappeared miraculously, leaving only tens of millions of ordinary people stranded in the city.

Anyone who was targeted by the Renaissance Army’s purge was so frightened that they fled the ancient capital overnight.

It is true that they are scum, but the more they are of this kind, the more they are afraid of death. Seeing the officers, soldiers and gentry leaving in large numbers, of course they dare not stay and wait to die.

Being able to cause such an incredible situation shows that the reputation of the Renaissance Army has truly spread far and wide and has great deterrent power.

Two days later, Cao Yongxiang personally led a vanguard army to take over Luoyang City. When he saw the situation in Liaoyang City, he felt speechless.

“Pass the order down, soldiers will immediately take over Luoyang City in teams of 10,000. Anyone who takes advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos will be killed without mercy!” Cao Yongxiang, who had just arrived in the magnificent Fuwang Mansion, immediately issued a military order.

Since all the officials and gentry in Luoyang City had been evacuated and the city defense formation had not been activated, he led the vanguard troops straight into Luoyang City without encountering any resistance and entered the city very smoothly.

Perhaps out of fear of retaliation from the Fuxing Army, the original officials, gentry, and soldiers of Luoyang City did not destroy the buildings of this megacity when they evacuated this ancient capital of the Six Dynasties.

The reason is simply because they are afraid of completely angering the Fusion Army and pursuing them relentlessly.

You must know that the cavalry and fleet of the Fuxing Army are world-famous, at least one level higher than the Ming Dynasty court.

Once the soldiers of the Fuxing Army were completely enraged and launched a relentless pursuit, even if the officials and soldiers of Luoyang City evacuated two days in advance, they might not be able to escape.

The vanguard army led by Cao Yongxiang, with 200,000 soldiers, was enough to easily take over Luoyang City.

Half a day later, the remaining 300,000 soldiers of the Qinglong Legion escorted the Firearms Battalion and the Firearms Battalion to arrive and began to clean up the city of Luoyang and restore people’s livelihood order.

It’s not that Cao Yongxiang doesn’t want to continue to expand the results of the battle, but Luoyang City, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, is too large and there is a lot of follow-up work to be done.

This requires waiting for subsequent government officials to arrive and complete the handover before they can withdraw and continue to launch a sweeping operation on the surrounding towns.

Conquering a place and governing it is the unchanging policy of the Fusion Army. It is impossible to leave huge hidden dangers in the newly occupied areas.

This is about recovering the nine provinces of China, not a foreign war. There are many restrictions and conditions, and it is impossible to kill indiscriminately like conquering foreign races.

“Black Cloud Dragon!”

Cao Yongxiang gave the order to the deputy commander Hei Yunlong who had just arrived with 300,000 soldiers of the Azure Dragon Legion, “According to the report from the sixth-level spirit bird accompanying the army, a part of the Tianxiong Army escorted Prince Fu and the officials and gentry of Luoyang City. They have arrived at Yanshi City on the big treasure ship along the Luo River, and then abandoned the ship and fled to Dengfeng.”

“After leaving Liaoyang City, another large part of the main force of the Tianxiong Army headed south to Ruzhou after leaving Luoyang City. It seems that they are going to join up with Gao Jie’s troops entrenched in Ruzhou.”

“You lead 300,000 soldiers to recapture Yanshi and Dengfeng first, and then wait for military orders to act.”

Hei Yunlong was a powerful general of the Ming Dynasty who surrendered to the Fuxing Army a year ago.

Hei Yunlong’s family is not simple. All eight of them, father and son, are geniuses, especially the sixth son Hei Mingxiao and the seventh son Hei Minglian.

In the autumn of last year, Hei Yunlong, then the general of Xuanfu, surrendered to the Fuxing Army along with other Ming generals such as Ma Dengyun and Bao Chengxian under the persuasion of You Shiwei, which completely changed the fate of these Ming generals.

The eight members of Hei Yunlong’s family are somewhat similar to the Yang family generals during the Song Dynasty. They are very brave in combat and are a family of fierce generals who dare to engage in direct combat with the Later Jin Tartars.

After joining the Fusion Army, the father and son successfully passed the Fusion Army-style general assessment, then stood out and were valued by Cao Yongxiang.

During the latest legion reorganization, Hei Yunlong was appointed by the military as the deputy commander of the Qinglong Legion, and his seven sons all served as generals of the Qinglong Legion.

The rise of the Renaissance Army is now unstoppable, especially the fact that the people in the area live and work in peace and contentment, which has completely won over Hei Yunlong and his son, and they truly regard themselves as part of the Renaissance Army.

As for the Suzaku Legion, it did not participate in the attack on Luoyang City. Instead, after landing at Mengjin Ferry, it divided its troops into three groups to capture Xin’an, Mianchi, Lingbao and other places respectively, to speed up the progress of the Fuxing Army’s march southward to the Central Plains.

“Yes, Commander-in-Chief!”

Hei Yunlong quickly agreed and left excitedly.

Half an hour later, the 300,000-strong Fusion Army, which had been lined up and organized, led by Hei Yunlong and his eight sons, left the east gate of Luoyang City and advanced along the Luo River by land and water, heading towards Yanshi City in the southeast direction.

If things go as expected, Yanshi City will also be abandoned by the Tianxiong Army. If they want to go to war with the enemy, they must at least chase them to Dengfeng City.

……

“Report to the chief steward!”

In the camp of the Fuxing Army, north of Kaifeng Prefecture, He Guang, the deputy director of the Military Intelligence Department, descended from the sky on a Level 5 Peak Spirit Bird and reported to Hong Mei, the commander-in-chief of the Central Army, “The 300,000 Jin troops in the city, led by Sun Chuanting, escorted King Zhou and his family out of the South Gate overnight!”

“It seems that they were well prepared and left in time before our army arrived at Kaifeng City this morning. The city is in chaos now.”

He Guang could not have imagined that the legendary and famous Sun Chuanting would actually choose to escape without fighting. This was inconsistent with his personality.

“Sun Chuanting led 300,000 Jin troops to flee?”

Hongmei frowned upon hearing this, and after a moment’s thought, she immediately gave an order, “Order the soldiers of the Qingluan Corps to enter the city immediately to take over Kaifeng Prefecture and act according to the rules!”

“Send a message to Ma Dengyun and Bao Chengxian to lead the Taowu Corps, bypass Kaifeng City and head south to capture Chenliu City as quickly as possible.”

“The officials and gentry in Kaifeng City will most likely evacuate to Chenliu City. Let’s try to stop them!”

There are many aristocratic families, wealthy merchants and tycoons in Kaifeng Prefecture, and the wealth and materials accumulated over the generations must be enormous.

It would be fine if the Jin army led by Sun Chuanting escaped, but the massive wealth of those officials, gentry and families could not be allowed to be taken to Nanjing.

Otherwise, the war potential of the Southern Ming Dynasty would be greatly enhanced.

The newly reorganized Taowu Legion is led by Ma Dengyun and Bao Chengxian as deputy commander.

The commander of the Qingluan Corps is Wei Ying, and the deputy commander is He Liping. Like the Royal Guard Corps, it is a women’s corps.

The selection mechanism of the Fuxing Army is different from that of the Ming Dynasty. It does not distinguish between men and women. As long as you can pass the selection and elimination training of warrior recruits, you can become a member of the regular army.

Therefore, female soldiers account for a large proportion of the combat troops in the Renaissance Army.

Currently, the Fusion Army has a total of 7.5 million regular combat troops, including 2 million female soldiers, who form four main combat corps, namely the Royal Guard Corps, the Blue Luan Corps, the Phoenix Corps, and the Red Snake Corps.

Among them, the Phoenix Corps and the Scarlet Snake Corps belong to the Navy and are divided into the five major fleets of the Navy.

The two legions have a total of one million female soldiers, and the five fleets are each equipped with 200,000 people, together with the navy, they are under the command of Wan’er.

“Yes, Chief Steward!”…

Generals such as Ma Dengyun and Bao Chengxian, who were standing by, immediately took the order and left.

The military rules and discipline of the Fuxing Army are much more standardized than those of the Ming Dynasty. These surrendered generals were reinstated only after undergoing rigorous training and assessment.

If you want to stand out in the future, the only way is to make a lot of military achievements.

A moment later, the two armies split into two and quickly took action…

(End of this chapter)