Hou Fangyu said: "Back to Prince Yu, there are two main roads from Xuzhou to Nanjing. One is the land route via Fengyang Prefecture, Chuzhou, and then to Nanjing. This road is relatively short, but it is blocked by mountains and rivers along the way, making it difficult.
The other way is the waterway that goes through Huai'an Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture and then to Nanjing. It's farther, but much easier to walk."
Duduo snorted slightly and then asked: "So, of these two roads, which one is more prosperous?"
After hearing Duduo's words, Hou Fangyu knew what he wanted to do, which was nothing more than robbery.
After all, the Jiannu slaves had invaded the country six times and brought the entire north into chaos.
However, Hou Fangyu did not resist this. From the moment that bitch turned his back on him and joined the National Disaster Troupe, and from the moment he refused to pass through the "Gate of Life and Death" established by Chongzhen, he, Hou Fangyu, and the Ming Dynasty had actually severed all ties with each other.
After Du Yinxi followed Chongzhen's decree to equalize the land in Guide Mansion, his Hou Fangyu and the Ming Dynasty became enemies.
"Of course it is the road from Huai'an Prefecture to Yangzhou Prefecture." Hou Fangyu replied without thinking, "Seven percent of the Ming Dynasty's wealth is in Jiangnan. Seventy percent of the wealth of Jiangnan is in Yangzhou."
"Yangzhou is the largest salt merchant gathering place in the Ming Dynasty."
"When it comes to prosperity in the Ming Dynasty, of course Yangzhou is the most prosperous."
After saying this for a moment, Hou Fangyu continued: "Not only is Yangzhou Prefecture rich, Huai'an Prefecture is also rich, and most of the richest market towns along the way are concentrated on the canal and the two rivers. Prince Yu leads the army south without leaving.
It's so far away that you can rob the entire Jiangnan wealth along the canal, it's really convenient."
Duduo was a little worried, and frowned and said: "But the road between Huai'an Prefecture and Yangzhou Prefecture is a waterway. Our army has no ships. It will be inconvenient to march across the river. It will be even more troublesome if we encounter the Ming Navy."
"It's more convenient to take the water route." Hou Fangyu said hurriedly, "As long as Prince Yu leads a large army to capture the city of Huai'an, he will be able to obtain a large number of water ships. Then our Qing soldiers can take the ships to go south."
"Are there water boats?" Duduo's heart moved slightly, "You mean there are many water boats in Huai'an Prefecture?"
Hou Fangyu said: "Prince Yu, the Water Transport Governor's Office of the Southern Ming Dynasty is in Shanyang, the capital of Huai'an. There have never been less than a thousand water ships moored at the Shanyang Canal Wharf!"
"A thousand canals?" Duduo was overjoyed when he heard this.
It would be great if we could seize these thousand canal ships from Shanyang.
Not only can the march south be easier, but after grabbing food, treasures, women, children and livestock from the south of the Yangtze River, they can also send them back to Xuzhou through the canal, and then directly back to Beijing via the canal, just like they did after they looted Shandong with the Two White Banners.
Taking a boat and taking the sea route back to the customs is not too relaxing.
But Duduo was still a little worried about the Ming Army's navy, and asked Hou Fangyu: "Where is the Ming Army's navy stationed now?"
"Prince Yu doesn't have to worry about the Ming Navy at all." Hou Fangyu said, "The weather in the south of the Yangtze River is extremely cold this year. Even the Huaihe River, which has never been frozen in previous years, is frozen because I am worried that it will be trapped by the ice. Years ago, I never
Before Shan Yang left to return home, the Ming Navy had already withdrawn from the Hongze Lake Water Village to Yunti Pass."
"Oh, is this happening?" Duduo was overjoyed when he heard this.
This is true to the old saying, when times come and go, heaven and earth all work together, and the heroes are not free.
Even God helped him, so Nanming and Chongzhen deserved their misfortune. Maybe this time they could not only loot Jiangnan, but also have the opportunity to take Nanjing directly in one go and raid Chongzhen's lair.
If this is the case, what is the use of Chongzhen guarding Xuzhou?
However, Duduo still kept a cautious eye and did not trust Hou Fangyu gullibly.
First, He Luohui was asked to take Hou Fangyu away, and Duduo asked Fan Chengmo to call another Jin gentry son who came from Shangqiu. In the end, he also said the same thing as Hou Fangyu, and now Duduo finally believed it.
…
On this day and night, Duduo had a good sleep.
However, Chongzhen didn't sleep much at all. He was awakened by the endless sound of horns in the early hours of the next day. He hurriedly put on his clothes and walked to the bunker hall, where he saw Jin Shenghuan rushing out.
"Your Majesty." Jin Shenghuan was about to bow before him, but was stopped by Chongzhen.
"You don't have to worry about me." Chongzhen replied that Jiannu was about to attack again, and said urgently, "Hurry up to the gun platform."
Jin Shenghuan no longer cared about Chongzhen, grabbed the stomach of the alms bowl and smashed it on his head, and climbed onto the gun stand.
After a while, Chongzhen also came to the platform of the gun platform, but found that the situation on the gun platform was calm, and the emotions of both the frontier soldiers and the soldiers were very stable.
Because Jiannu didn't attack at all.
"Your Majesty." Xu Yingwei, who was keeping vigil at night, came forward to pay homage.
"No." Xu Yingwei shook his head and said, "I only heard the sound of horns and drums, but no Jiannu came."
"Is there such a thing?" Chongzhen frowned slightly, and after listening for a while, his face suddenly changed slightly, "Jiannu is preparing to divide his troops!"
"Divide the troops?" Jin Shenghuan was stunned.
Xu Yingwei said: "The Holy One is saying that the Jiannu are planning to leave part of their troops to besiege Xuzhou for a long time, and then send part of their troops to go south to invade and loot Southern Zhili?"
"It's not just about invading and looting." Chongzhen said, "If given the opportunity, Jiannu would not mind shooting an arrow through the heart of the Ming Dynasty and taking Nanjing directly!"
"Ah?" The faces of the surrounding border soldiers changed dramatically when they heard this.
Xu Yingwei and other Qin Wang scholars were calm, because just a year ago, on the way north to Xuzhou, Chongzhen led them to deduce the enemy situation of Jiannu going south countless times.
So it was not surprising to them that such a change occurred.
However, it’s not unexpected at all, but it’s still worrying.
Xu Yingwei persuaded in a low voice: "Your Majesty, if Jiannu really divides his troops and goes south, he will probably go to Huai'an. At present, Huai'an Prefecture only has 200,000 newly recruited rural warriors, and even the 20,000 transportation troops from the Water Transport Department are following the Road Department.
The Tang Dynasty has been transferred to Pizhou. I am worried that Huai'an Prefecture will be lost. Otherwise, I will lead a team of soldiers to rush to rescue?"
"Rush for help?" Chongzhen shook his head and said, "How do you get there? Go through the ice on the river?"
"Bing?" Xu Yingwei was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he realized what he was saying and sighed, "That's right. As long as we leave the city, we will be discovered by Jian Nu. Then the Mongolian cavalry will definitely come to hunt us down, and we won't be able to escape."
"So, let's put all our thoughts on Yunlong Mountain." Chongzhen said, "As for Huai'an Mansion, leave it to Yan Yingyuan, Maoxiang and other diligent princes and scholars from Huaxia. I believe they can hold it."
As for Yangzhou, Zhuzhou and even Nanjing in the south, it is still unclear whether the slaves can go that far. Even if they go there at all costs, they still cannot win. Is Jiangnan really that easy to fight?
After all, the Huanghuai River had not been lost at this time, and Jiannu's heavily armed troops would not be able to get through.
As he spoke, the sky gradually became brighter, and he was finally able to see clearly.
Jiannu had indeed divided his troops, and saw groups of cavalry, groups of infantry, and horse-drawn carriages driving out continuously from the gate of the camp.
I didn't see the Hongyi cannon.
The long team walked for nearly half a day.
Even the most conservative estimates suggest that the number of Buddhist slaves who broke camp and left was less than 100,000.
"What a pity." Zhu Cijiong, who was standing next to Chongzhen, suddenly sighed softly.
Chongzhen also said in his heart that it was a pity. It was a pity that even if the Jiannu soldiers were divided into two groups, the Jiannu soldiers who stayed in Xuzhou could never be defeated by the Ming army.
The next day, Jiannu who stayed in Xuzhou divided his troops again and divided them into four groups.
The four groups of Jiannu set up large camps in the four directions of Xuzhou, southeast and northwest.
What made Chongzhen even more regretful was that even if the Jiannu troops were divided again and divided into four groups, the Jiannu troops in each group would only have 30,000 or 40,000 troops at most, but the Ming army would still be unable to defeat them in the field, so they could only fight defensive battles.
Immediately afterwards, tens of thousands of coated slaves began to dig trenches outside the Ming army's twelfth heavy gun platform.
The blockade ditch dug by these dog slaves was almost two feet deep and five feet wide. Its specifications were much worse than the gun platform trench, but its length was much longer. It restored Xuzhou City, Yunlong Mountain, and the twelve-layer gun platform outside the city.
Parts of the Yellow River are included. It is precisely because of the Yellow River that the blockade ditch dug by Jiannu is not complete and does not form a closed loop.
…
Suining County is a remote small county in the northwest of Huai'an Prefecture.
Less than a hundred miles north of Suining County is Pizhou County. At this time, there were ten border troops stationed in Pizhou City. It was one of the three important towns on the Huanghuai defense line. However, Suining only had 10,000 township warriors.
The Huanghuai defense line designed by Chongzhen did not spread the pie and distribute the troops evenly, but heavily garrisoned the three strategic support points, and then used rural bravery to guard each county and important market town.
As for the vast rural areas in the periphery, they can only be strategically abandoned.
At most, when the Jiannu invaders come, try to move as many people as possible into the city.
The man responsible for training the local warriors in Suining County was Ningbo Shengyuan Huaxia.
When Huaxia came to Suining County, he only had one decree from Chongzhen, and in addition, he had the power to withdraw money and food from the treasury of Shanyang City at any time.
Whether you are capable or not, you can find out by trying it out in a position where you are responsible.
Hua Xia is undoubtedly a capable scholar. On the third day after arriving in Suining, he recruited more than a hundred Xiang Yong. He then took the Xiang Yong to Shanyang City to collect money and food, and then came to recruit strong men from Xiang Yong.
There is an endless stream.
To put it bluntly, as long as a strong man at this time has enough to eat, he can really sell his life to you.
However, China did not accept all applicants regardless of good or bad. Instead, it screened the strong men who came to apply, and screened them based on their performance, leaving only honest people from the countryside.
Huaxia finally recruited more than 10,000 Xiangyong, and then began to train according to the training methods of the Shizi Camp.
It means memorizing the performance book and walking in queue, then training the equipment, and at the same time starting to build the gun platform fortifications. Anyway, it is the same routine of training the soldiers' camp in Chongzhen all over again.
In addition, Xiangyong's rations were also given sufficient.
In addition to three full meals a day, each person also has three buckets of rice for work every month.
I have to admit that most of the country warriors actually came here for these three buckets of rice.
A scholar-bureaucrat would rather starve to death than give up his back for five bushels of rice, but a common man would sell his life just to get a bushel of rice to feed his wife and children. This is how different people are.
When Huaxia came back from Pizhou City, he felt that the weather seemed to be getting colder again.
"Sir, it's getting cold again." Wang Pohu, the captain of the soldiers chosen by China, said with concern, "Please add some clothes as a reward, but be sure not to freeze."
"It doesn't matter, the cold is nothing." Hua Xia said, "Our weather in Ningbo is almost cold."
But that's what he said, but when he walked to the Suishui River and was blown by the cold wind, Hua Xia still shrank his neck. It was really cold, and the northwest wind was like a knife, which hurt people's faces.
"Has the ice been knocked?" Hua Xia asked as he walked.
"Knock it on." Wang Pohu nodded and said, "It's a lot thicker, so a carriage weighing more than a thousand kilograms can cross the river without any problem."
"Is the ice layer already so thick?" Hua Xia frowned immediately, because Suining County is close to the south bank of Suishui River, and Suishui River is the moat of Suining County City. Now that Suishui River is frozen so thickly, it is equivalent to no moat.
Protect.
But fortunately, there are six layers of more than one hundred muskets surrounding Suining County. Even if the slave-building army arrives, it will not be easy to advance to Suining County in a short time.
After a pause, Hua Xia asked again: "Has the third batch of spears from the arsenal been delivered?"
"Just arrived." Wang Pohu nodded and said, "We have already counted them. There are three thousand spears in total, but they are only spears with bamboo poles. They say they don't have that much iron wood."
"Bamboo poles are just bamboo poles. It's better than nothing."
While the two were talking, they had already walked to a gun stand.
I saw groups of local heroes entering the gun platform from the entrance.
These village warriors, either one person or two people, carried buckets of dung, bags of quicklime and several large iron pots into the gun platform.
Outside the cannon platform, there are Xiangyong who are building fishing nets.
Seeing Hua Xia coming, Xiang Yong stood up and greeted him one after another.
Hua Xia bowed in return, squatted down and picked up a knotted fishing net, and pulled it hard. As a result, his finger joints turned white, but the ramie fishing net remained intact.
"Don't worry, sir." A simple and honest country man said, "The ramie fishing net is still secure."
"Well, it's better to be more secure." Hua Xia nodded, "If it's not secure enough, then we won't be able to catch the slaves."
As soon as Hua Xia finished speaking, a warrior on the gun platform suddenly pointed his finger to the northwest and shouted: "Look, my lord, the smoke! The smoke is rising from the northwest!"
Hua Xia suddenly turned around and saw smoke rising from the northwest.
In order to allow the people outside the county town time to enter the county town and take refuge, Hua Xia specially sent people to build beacon towers in all directions. Once an army of slave builders invaded the country, beacons were lit during the day and beacon fires were lit at night.
Now the smoke is rising, which means that Jian Nu is coming to kill Suining.
"Quick!" Huaxia became nervous instantly and shouted, "The garrison teams from each gun station immediately entered their respective gun stations, set up large pots to boil the golden juice, and the rural warriors who were left behind in the county quickly went to evacuate the people!"
"All the people must enter the city within an hour!"
The farthest beacon tower is about forty miles away from Suining County.
It would take an hour and a half at the fastest for the Jiannu army to arrive.
