The king of Yan was very strict with the muskets, so strict that each gun had a number and the name of the craftsman who made it, and repeatedly warned the soldiers not to lose them, and formulated a series of systems, with a special inspector responsible for guarding them, and violators and relatives were guilty of felonies.

Originally, every time the battle of the Shenji battalion was to meet the enemy from a long distance, because it was not easy to make muskets, the guns of the war dead would be taken away immediately, and now after the battle, it is necessary to check whether the muskets are lost, crossing the river to Shandong, Zhu Di did not even allow the Shenji battalion to accompany him, for fear that in case of defeat, the soldiers would not have time to withdraw to the north, and the muskets would be obtained by the imperial court.

After the Battle of Baigouhe, Zhu Di, who realized the power of muskets and artillery, immediately ordered that the Beiping Arsenal be turned into a big prison, with cronies and servants guarding the gate with 500 palace captains. This aroused Xu Hao's disgust, but he also accepted that Ma He, that is, Zheng He, brought people to monitor firearms, and thought of Dongchang and Jinyiwei, which were carried forward by Zhu Di and notorious.

And the flintlock pistol in Xu Wen's hand was asked from Xu Song very early, and it has always been carried on his back as a life-saving weapon, because Li Jinglong likes to laugh at him, he didn't take it out and dedicate it to the imperial court.

It was also Xu Wen who was clever, knowing that Yan Jun attached great importance to firearms, so he didn't want to offend his uncle too much.

While everyone was watching King Yan under the city, Xu Wen retreated to the end and gave Xu Huizu a shot, and then fled to the city during the chaos.

He was carrying a flag wrapped in coarse cloth because no one noticed that it was a murder weapon that might change the course of history. In fact, even if the musket was obtained by the imperial court, it was not necessary to equip the troops on a large scale for two or three years, Xu Hao never expected to be able to keep secrets, and at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu Qing Dynasty already had the casting technology of shotgun guns and artillery, and even the Indians learned to use guns.

The sudden change inadvertently changed history slightly, and in the chaos, an iron plate fell from under the city gate and did not hit Zhu Di's horse.

In fact, neither Tie Xuan nor Sheng Yong nor Xu Huizu dared to openly assassinate King Yan, and neither bows, crossbows, or firearms dared to use them. One of the iron plates constructed with the city gate was to try to cause an accident, after smashing the horses, an ambush rushed out to capture Zhu Di alive, but even the horse was not injured, and the frightened Zhu Di hurriedly turned the horse's head and drove away.

When the soldiers in ambush under the bridge climbed up, King Yan had already gone far away.

Zhu Di, who was on the verge of dying, was immediately furious and ordered the Yan army to besiege Jinan City again, and Tie Xuan immediately ordered the soldiers defending the city to scold the Yan thieves for treason.

Zhu Di became more and more annoyed and angry, and yelled: "Let Xu Song bombard the city for me." ”

In less than half a day, the seemingly impregnable city wall was blown out of the gap by cannonballs, and the Yan army brandished weapons and cheered in unison.

At this time, the god card of the first emperor hung on the head of the city. Xu Song hurriedly shouted: "Stop firing!" Stop firing! ”

Zhu Di looked at his father's tablet and was angry with the seven orifices, the question is, how dare he bombard the god card? Needless to say, the ghosts and gods in the underworld, even if the gods and the first emperor are not to blame, it is difficult to block the mouths of the people of the world.

At this time, the Ziyan army couldn't even attack the city, and gritted their teeth with hatred, and the defenders who had no worries used all kinds of firearms, and sent dead soldiers to set fire everywhere at night. Coupled with the continuous attacks of soldiers and horses from all over the country who rushed to the rescue, the Yan army was overwhelmed.

Zhu Di was full of anger and had no way to vent it, but he had nothing to do, and he was angry like thunder every day. He was angry and insisted on besieging it for a long time, and he would not give up until he trapped the people in the city.

A month later, Yao Guangxiao finally couldn't bear it anymore and persuaded again: "The city has been besieged for several months. The whole army was exhausted, and asked the prince to return to Beiping for the time being. ”

At this time, Zhu Neng hurriedly came in and reported: "Yang Wen led 100,000 people to come to the rescue, and Guo Ying gathered 200,000 troops to go north to occupy the Danjia Bridge between the rivers. Intending to block the return to the north of the land and water, Zhang Yu and his son rushed to meet the enemy with the Shenji battalion, and 20,000 sailors of the imperial court were attacking Texas. ”

Zhu Di's face was red and white, and the consequences of not being able to attack for a long time were finally exposed, fortunately Xu Hao had stabilized Hebei and defeated Xu Kai's 50,000 people, making it impossible for the official army to attack from both sides, and couldn't help but sigh: "I should have listened to Xu Hao's advice if I knew this, and I wasted five months in vain." ”

That night, the Yan army had no choice but to withdraw, and the official army took advantage of the situation to attack, and Zhu Di left the general Chen Xu to lead 30,000 people to defend Dezhou.

Yao Guangxiao and other strategists and officers took the boat and Xu Song's artillery battalion to the north first, and Zhu Neng led 20,000 elite cavalry to protect along the way. Because Mu Hui's forty warships arrived in time, the imperial court sailors did not dare to engage in the battle and gave way to the road.

Zhu Di then led 80,000 people back to Hebei, but before he could walk for two days, Chen Xu abandoned the city and fled, and handed over Dezhou, the hub of the waterway, which was also the bridgehead for the troops to enter Shandong, which greatly boosted the morale of the officers and soldiers who recovered Shandong, and the reputation of Tie Xuan and Sheng Yong was in full swing.

Zhu Di angrily beheaded Chen Xu, leaving Chen Heng and several other generals and 50,000 people to guard Hebei, and replaced Zhang Yu and the Shenji Battalion to return north together.

The scenery of Daming Lake in September is particularly beautiful, the lake water is extraordinarily clear, and all kinds of fish swim leisurely. The soldiers and civilians of Jinan who survived the catastrophe tasted the joy of perseverance and victory, and tasted the sweetness and deliciousness of the celebratory wine.

The returning Tie Xuan set up a banquet in the Tianxin Pavilion to reward the soldiers and civilians of the city, and used a grand celebration ceremony and rich rewards to further stimulate the loyalty of the soldiers and civilians of Shandong.

The strategist Wang Du and Song Pingxi, who joined the army, immediately waved his troops north, believing that the current officers and troops could compete with the Yan army in terms of morale and combat strength, and after merging the soldiers and horses from all walks of life, the strength of the army could increase to four or five hundred thousand, which was twice the 200,000 of the Yan army.

And Tie Xuan is good at surprise soldiers, prestige can make the northern heroes surrender, and the recovery of Hebei is just around the corner, so that it is enough to hit the city of Beiping, and the Yan army will look back on the families occupied by the official army, and they will scatter away, and then the king of Yan will have no way out but surrender.

Tie Xuan sighed and said: "The policy of the princes is indeed exciting, but in addition to the talented Yan Wang in the northern soldiers, there is also a talented Xu Hao, the indestructible muskets and artillery are all from his own hands, who this person is I don't need to explain, he was able to stir up chaos in Shandong officialdom alone, and he was the henchman of the first emperor." Instead of leading the tired soldiers to the north, it is better to wait for work, and the next time the Yan army goes south, I have my own plan for victory. ”

Tie Hyun, who likes to be safe, gave up on the seductive construction of the strategist, and undoubtedly lost a good chance to turn defeat into victory.

On the sixth day of October, Yan Jun returned to Beiping, Xu Hao returned to the north with him, and Zhu Di, who had calmed down, returned to normal, and still trusted Xu Hao cordially on the surface.

In general, King Yan commanded the army to defeat Li Jinglong at the Baigou River, and occupied most of Hebei.

When the soldiers and horses were rectified, Zhu Di was promoted to reward meritorious soldiers on a large scale, and Chen Heng, the governor of the capital, was promoted to the governor of the Houjun Governor's Office, and the commander Zhang Xin and Fang Kuansheng were promoted to the commander of the Beiping Metropolitan Division; All commanders, such as Zhang Yuqiu, Fu Zhu Neng, and other generals, were all promoted to commanders.

The newly put into service Jinan Wei commander Lu Rong and Jiyang Wei commander Ji Qing were promoted to the commander of the capital, the brave Yanshan Zhongwei commander Huo Zhen, the commander Wang You and others were also promoted to the commander of the capital, and Gu Cheng, a veteran general left behind in Beiping, was also promoted to the governor of the rear army.

Together with the generals at all levels around Xu Hao, they have all been promoted by one level, but except for Xu Song, they are not subordinate to the Beiping Command Division, but to the Beiping Yanshanwei, which means that together with Xu Hao, they are all left-behind troops, and most of the generals are dignified field troops who follow King Yan to go on the expedition.

Among them, the establishment of the military governor's mansion replaced Xu Hao's responsibilities in disguise, one Chen Heng and one Gu Cheng, two governors knew the same as one in Hebei and the other in Beiping, which greatly reduced the military power of the prince Zhu Gaochi and could only take care of government affairs.

However, Xu Hao relied on his recent exploits and was promoted to a transcendent general from the second rank of the army, which seemed to be a fictitious position with no power, and Zhu Di could not even take away the military power, and there were directly subordinate to his own sailor commander Mu Hui, Shanhaiwei commander Mu Yi, Qianhu Li Qiu and Huo Chi'er and other generals, holding another 5,600 musketeers guarding Beiping, 5,600 officers and soldiers of the sailor division, plus attached craftsmen and miscellaneous servants, etc., the total number was close to a full 20,000.

In other words, Xu Hao has become a major faction in the Yan army system, or is it the only independent system that is independent of the Yan King and close to the prince, in short, the mountainism in this army is inevitable.

In the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, seniority was also discussed, and among all the generals of the Yan Army, the people with the highest status were originally in high positions in the court, such as Chen Heng was originally the governor of Beiping Mansion, Gu Chengfangkuan, Zhang Xin and even Xu Hao.

As the saying goes, things gather people in groups, and unconsciously, Chen Heng gathered a group of northern generals who came after the uprising, Gu Cheng was surrounded by people who surrendered to the official army, Fang Kuan, Zhang Xin and others also had their own circles, even if the Mongolian generals had their own relatives according to the tribal region.

Of course, the largest faction is the Beiping faction composed of Yan Wang's henchmen and generals Zhang Yu, Zhu Neng, Qiu Fu and others, who are numerous and powerful, and have a decisive influence in the army.

Zhu Di, as a lord who is also excellent in politics, has already considered this festival with ease when he was promoted to a general, so naturally he can't let Xu Hao, who has a very special status in Beiping, enter the Command Division, and even Yao Guangxiao, who has been a strategist in the army, only holds a civilian position.

Zhu Gaochi was excluded from the military system, and Zhu Gaochu and Zhu Gaosui were always vassal kings rather than generals, so Zhu Di was able to firmly control the whole army.

Xu Hao looked coldly at King Yan, who liked to monopolize power, and suggested sacrificing the fallen soldiers and the officers and soldiers who died in battle, and Zhu Di ordered Tang Jing, the prefect of Beiping, and Xie Jin, the deputy envoy of the political secretary, to pay tribute to the gods of the mountains and rivers of Xiongxian County and the Baigou River.

In the blink of an eye, the hot summer has passed, the autumn is about to leave, and the cold winter is coming again.

Yang Wen entered Hebei in the north, recaptured many cities in succession, and cut off Cao Yun. Chen Hui took command of Guo Ying, Guo Ying was summoned to the Beijing Division, led the army to the vicinity of Dingzhou, and defeated the Yan army at Huashan, and Chen Heng, who had just become the governor of the capital, was severely injured and died shortly after being carried back to Beiping.

In the face of the imposing official army, Zhu Di was unwilling to sit still, decided to attack as defense, and led his division south again. (To be continued......)