Inside Jinling City, within the Imperial City.
Chen Huai'an, who had just been crowned emperor, had recently returned to the capital city from Longcheng, the fiefdom of the Prince of Jin, to handle state affairs. Accompanying him were Princess Liu Shujun and Princess Yue Qiluo.
As for the rest of the Prince of Jin's family, they will remain temporarily at the Longcheng Palace until the enthronement ceremony in the first month of the lunar calendar, at which time the whole family will move to Jinling City.
Regarding the matter of establishing a new empress, Chen Huai'an had already made up his mind after meeting with the two women separately.
However, he did not rush to announce the matter to the world, and the wedding was scheduled for the time of his ascension to the throne in the first month of the lunar calendar.
Chen Huai'an also wanted to use the matter of establishing an empress to test the loyalty of the civil and military officials of the new dynasty.
When he received the urgent military report from Pang Xianchu, the commander of one of the southern expeditionary forces, sent from Yongzhou City in the Southern Yue Kingdom, it was already three days after the southern expeditionary army was defeated in Yongzhou City.
Upon receiving the military report from the front lines in Yongzhou, Chen Huai'an was furious, thinking to himself, "Is Li Zongmin really so shameless?"
I had already decided to give you face, but you still played a trick on me by feigning surrender, and almost got the loyal and brave General Pang Xianchu killed.
This is intolerable!
The Southern Yue Kingdom must be destroyed!
Meanwhile, Chen Huai'an's imperial edict to destroy the Southern Yue Kingdom was still on its way when a second military report from the Yongzhou front was delivered to the imperial palace in Jinling City by express courier.
The content is short but contains a lot of information.
The gist is that the army that led the Longcheng expedition to the south was mainly composed of northerners. Fighting in the unbearably hot and humid Nanyue Kingdom, many soldiers suffered from acclimatization problems, resulting in a large number of non-combat casualties.
In addition, the city walls of Yongzhou were high and easy to defend, making it difficult to attack. Even though the brave general Pang Xianchu took the lead and personally led the assault team to attack Yongzhou several times, he still failed to break through the city.
Pang Xianchu reported to the new emperor Chen Huai'an, asking whether it was possible to wait until the weather cooled down before retaking the Nanyue Kingdom, in order to reduce non-combat casualties of the Longcheng army!
After receiving Pang Xianchu's second military report, Chen Huai'an finally couldn't sit still any longer.
The mere Nanyue Kingdom and Li Zongmin must not become obstacles or stumbling blocks before my enthronement ceremony.
Chen Huai'an immediately summoned Naval Commander Qi Jiguang, along with Minister of War Li Jingyu, Minister of Works Hu Zhijun, and Minister of Revenue Jiang Xiao, to hold an emergency meeting to devise a plan for Pang Xianchu, whose southern expedition against Nanyue was stalled.
Inside the Imperial Study in the palace, the new Emperor Chen Huai'an sat on his dragon couch, discussing matters with the civil and military officials of the new dynasty while enjoying tea.
Chen Huai'an said, "My beloved ministers, the matter I have summoned here today to discuss is that our Longcheng Southern Expeditionary Army has been stalled in Yongzhou during its campaign against the Nanyue Kingdom."
"The soldiers of the Longcheng army who were sent to conquer the Nanyue Kingdom were mostly northern men. Upon arriving in the hot Nanyue lands, they inevitably suffered from some acclimatization problems. Furthermore, Yongzhou city was well-defended and easy to defend, and the Nanyue garrison had made ample preparations."
"Therefore, I am preparing to assemble a surprise force to reinforce the Southern Yue Kingdom!"
Upon hearing the Emperor's words, Li Jingyu, who was the former Minister of War of the previous dynasty and was temporarily holding the position of Minister of War of the new dynasty, immediately stood up and said, "Your Majesty, our Ministry of War has only just received news of the army's obstruction in its campaign against Nanyue."
"Before coming to see Your Majesty, I had already drafted a preliminary memorial proposing that a large army from the Hubei and Hunan regions be mobilized to reinforce the front lines in Yongzhou. The climate of these two regions is similar to that of Nanyue, and the troops are in high spirits, eager to serve Your Majesty and the new dynasty."
"Your Majesty, this is a memorial I have drafted, which details the troop deployment and the commanding generals. Please take a look!"
After speaking, Li Jingyu took out the memorial he had prepared beforehand from the wide sleeves of his official robe and presented it to Chen Huai'an with both hands.
Um!
Chen Huai'an nodded, gave Li Jingyu an approving look, and then took the memorial and began to read it.
It must be admitted that Li Jingyu is a guy who is good at seizing opportunities.
Since surrendering, Li Jingyu's handling and feedback on tasks assigned to him by Chen Huai'an, whether it was reorganizing the Six Ministries or dealing with the current obstruction at the Yongzhou front, have been timely and effective.
This well-prepared memorial alone shows that he had put in the effort and thought.
In fact, Chen Huai'an already had the answer in his heart regarding the strategy to break the deadlock in Yongzhou.
The reason he still convened this group of people for discussion was twofold: firstly, it was a means for him to win people's hearts and minds; secondly, it was to instruct them to work together to complete his strategic plan for establishing a new military branch.
Therefore, Chen Huai'an pretended to read through the memorial provided by Li Jingyu, the Minister of War, for a while before saying, "Lord Li, I have finished reading your memorial. It is very good!"
"Regarding the matter of dispatching troops from the Hubei and Hunan regions to reinforce Yongzhou, proceed according to your memorial!"
"My lord, I obey the order!"
Li Jingyu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to herself that her hard work last night had finally paid off!
If I work harder now, I'll have a better chance of securing my position as Minister of War after the emperor establishes the new dynasty and ascends the throne!
Chen Huai'an then said, "I have summoned you all today for another matter, which requires your sincere unity and concerted efforts to implement as soon as possible!"
brush!
Upon hearing the Emperor's words, the group immediately perked up and listened attentively to his decree.
Chen Huai'an continued, "My beloved ministers, the setbacks suffered by the Longcheng army in its campaign against the Southern Yue Kingdom have inspired me, leading me to decide to establish a completely new military branch to strengthen our Longcheng army;"
"Of course, this is not a new branch of the military. It has already appeared on the warships of my Dragon City Navy and has been tested in actual combat!"
Now, Admiral Qi Jiguang finally realized why the Emperor had summoned him to discuss matters today.
Qi Jiguang tentatively asked, "Does Your Majesty intend to establish a dedicated firearms-based military branch?"
Hahaha!
Upon hearing this, Chen Huai'an immediately burst into hearty laughter and said, "General Qi understands me best!"
It was only then that the commanders of the other three ministries, including Li Jingyu, realized after their initial confusion that the new military force the Emperor was referring to must be the "firearms and cannons" unit equipped on the naval warships.
These men had never personally witnessed the terrifying dominance of the cannons equipped on the warships of the Dragon City Navy on the battlefield.
However, on the day the Longcheng Jingnan army breached Jinling City, the thunderous sound and the rout of the 100,000 rattan armor soldiers of the Nanzhao Kingdom instilled a deep-seated fear in everyone regarding that terrifying weapon.
Next, Chen Huai'an said, word by word, "My beloved ministers, I have decided to establish a firearms army based on the cannons equipped on the warships of the Dragon City naval fleet. Let it be called—"
"The Divine Machine Battalion!"
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