There was no natural barrier between Bozhou and Guide, and the plains were open, allowing the invading cavalry to run wild. However, in order to prevent the intruders from moving too quickly and alerting the enemy, Li Laiheng let go of Chen Yongfu and Yuan Shizhong, so he did not directly follow the route from Bozhou.
Ma Shang went north to He, but first sent Li Shiwei to capture Yongcheng County in the southeast area of Guide Prefecture.
The main force of the invading army immediately marched eastward, first assembled in Yongcheng, then went north via Daqiuji, Hanjiadao, and Sijiadao, and detoured to Qiulonggou, another man-made canal east of Shangqiu, the capital of Guide Prefecture, to cut off Guide.
The only way for the defenders to retreat eastward to Xuzhou.
It was already the end of September, with continuous autumn rain and muddy roads. It was difficult for the rebel cavalry to run, and it was even more difficult to drag the artillery. Chen Yongfu and Yuan Shizhong also relaxed their vigilance because of this, and did not expect that the rebel army would abandon Mashanghe Avenue and turn around.
Instead, we headed to the Qiulong Valley area where heavy rain continued and the roads were muddy and difficult to navigate.
In order to maintain a high marching speed in the autumn rainy weather, the Chuang army had to leave a lot of baggage and heavy artillery in the Bozhou and Yongcheng areas and attack lightly.
At the same time, Gu Junen and his group of army officers finally made sufficient preparations for the march of the invasion army in a more reasonable way.
They learned from the experience that when they crossed the Guohe River before, the Military Affairs Department intervened in everything and had to take care of everything, but the result was that the management was chaotic and they could not deal with emergencies.
Instead, a mission-based planning method was adopted, that is, each unit and officers at all levels were first assigned some combat and marching tasks with a wider scope and simpler content, giving the leading officers a high degree of freedom to perform.
The Military Affairs Department was only responsible for the formulation of overall, broad military plans. With such a hands-off approach, the situation this time was much more orderly than during the Battle of Guohe.
In fact, this is not surprising. Li Laiheng wanted to transplant the general staff system based on the talents of the current Chuang Army. In the absence of telegraph and railways, transplanting an overly advanced system to the entity of the Chuang Army was originally a fool's dream.
fantasy.
It would have caused the extremely chaotic situation during the Battle of Guohe, but it could be said to be very lucky that no particularly serious losses were caused by such confusion and disorder.
Considering the quantity and quality of the officers in the army, it is impossible to expect the army officer department to become the steward and authoritarian agency of the leading officers.
Even the historical Prussian army, with its prototype general staff, could not reach out and manage everywhere. Instead, it needed to adopt a task-based empowerment approach to make the army function well.
"Xiayi County is in sight! How awesome, you did a good job this time. The straw, raincoats and other materials prepared for the army's assault have all been put to use."
Li Laiheng wore a bamboo hat, and the rainwater flowed from the edge of the hat like silver threads. He gently stroked the mane of the war horse, comforted the mount that was anxious due to the heavy rain, and smiled at Gu Junen:
"We are waiting for work on the Qiulong ditch and holding on to the river. I want to see what other options Yuan Shizhong can do? Xiao Yuanying and Henan Town are now trapped in Guide. Apart from surrendering, what other way out is there?
Most of the people in Xiaoyuan camp were brothers from our army, and they had no resistance to submitting to the army. As for Chen Yongfu, although he had concerns about shooting the generalissimo, since he could do it for so long
How can he be a pure minister of the imperial court when he has been exchanging letters with Chen Xin, who has long since defected to the Chuang Army?"
In the autumn rain, there were occasional thunders. But this did not affect the march of the invading army at all. At the junction of Shandong, Henan, and Anhui, on the endless Huanghuaihai Plain, dark blue troops were advancing everywhere.
The soldiers all wore raincoats and rain hats, padded the wheels with straw, and used ropes to drag the cannons forward. Although the heavy rain wet the ground and every soldier's body, it did not dampen everyone's fighting spirit at all.
and enthusiasm.
Rather, such an astonishingly fast advance in the rain made the troops full of confidence in victory in the next battle.
Li Laiheng looked at the middle of the road. There was a gun truck carrying three prisoner-killing cannons stuck in the mud. Six or seven soldiers gathered around and tried to drag the cart out, but the strength was still a little bit weak. He then
He dismounted his horse personally, stepped on the mud, walked to the soldiers, patted the shoulders of the intruders, and said with a smile in the heavy rain: "I am with you, commander-in-chief!"
The soldiers of the invading army just reacted and all screamed in surprise, but before everyone could persuade Li Laiheng to retreat, Marshal Shaohu had already pulled the cart up with force, and with a roar, the vehicle was pulled out of the slippery muddy water.
.
Gray and black sewage splashed all over Li Laiheng's shirt and face, and his hands were also covered with mud. But Li Laiheng remained unmoved. He wiped a handful on his forehead with his hands covered with mud, unable to restrain himself.
With the pride in his chest, he sighed: "Our army becomes more powerful every day, not to mention the Ming army. Even if the Donglu really crosses the south of the river, can't we defeat them in one battle?"
This plain in history, which should have been washed away by the bursting of its banks into a white plain, is now cheering, trembling with excitement, and welcoming the offensive of the intruders.
Gu Junen was also deeply proud of the smooth execution of the plan of the Joining the Army. He was still armed as a scholar, wearing a bright armor, wrapped up in a cloak in the rain, and laughed wildly:
"Just as the envoy said, our army is moving rapidly in the wind and rain, and the speed of our troops is like falling from heaven. How could Chen Yongfu and Yuan Shizhong have expected it? Now we have arrived at Qiulong Valley first and are stuck between Guide and Xuzhou. The Ming army has no way to advance eastward.
There is no choice but to surrender."
All the generals in the invading army were very optimistic about the prospect of forced landing of Chen Yongfu and Yuan Shizhong, and they all admired Gu Junen's clever plan of making a roundabout way to block the enemy's eastward advance.
Gu Junen is a bit crazy, but he is indeed quite talented and wise, and is definitely not comparable to ordinary crazy people.
But among everyone, Fang Yiren was the only one who was still worried, but he did not express his worries directly in front of Gu Junen and the generals. Instead, he waited for a heavy rainstorm and Li Laiheng drove his horse to avoid the rain before he caught up with Li Laiheng.
Beside him, he asked in a low voice:
"Although the Ming army's eastward advance is blocked, Chen Yongfu and Yuan Shizhong can still escape if they cross the Yellow River north... Nowadays, almost all civilian ships in the Yellow River and canals are under the control of the government and the army. Chen Yongfu is staying in Guide.
After such a long time, I must have a lot of ships on hand.
If he makes up his mind to run, even if the east side is blocked, he can still run north."
Li Laiheng also thought about this, but he had other thoughts, so he explained to Fang Yiren: "Hao Zhi and I also have this consideration, but it would be too difficult for our army to detour back to the north and cut off Chen Yongfu's road to the north.
, there is no execution at all.
In addition, haven't the Donglu conquered Yanzhou? Yanzhou is just north of Guide. I consider that the Donglu is in Yanzhou, so Chen Yongfu should not cross the Yellow River north and surrender to the tiger's claws of the Donglu.
Between ‘captives’ and ‘bandits’, I believe Chen Yongfu will still choose to defect to the ‘bandits’ he is more familiar with!”
"This is what I'm worried about...What exactly are Donglu's movements? We still don't know."
This heavy rain covered the Chuang army's sudden action, but it also obscured the Chuang army's eyes and ears, making the Chuang army unsure of the Qing army's movements north of the Yellow River and east of the Grand Canal.
Although Li Laiheng attached great importance to the intelligence of the Qing army, he sent hundreds of Ye Bushou to try to grasp the situation on the north bank of the Yellow River. However, due to continuous heavy rains, the transmission of intelligence was seriously hindered. The only news that can be known now is that the Qing army has cleared up the situation.
Killed the remaining Ming troops in Yanzhou Prefecture.
Li Laiheng had no idea what the Qing army would do next!
The current position of the Chuang Army is only a few dozen miles away from the Yellow River, and it is only more than 200 miles away from Yanzhou. If the Qing Army launches a rapid attack and no one organizes river defense, it can take up to two or three days, or even a day.
Before that, Donglu might suddenly appear on either side of the Chuang army.
There is a great possibility that this will turn into a situation that is extremely unfavorable to the invading army like the Battle of Shanhaiguan in later history...
Thinking of this, Li Laiheng couldn't help but feel a little worried.
But now it is raining heavily. What are the Donglu doing? Where are they and what actions are they taking? It is indeed very dangerous for the invading army to get too close to the Yellow River when the enemy's situation is unknown.
"Hmm... Leshan, what do you mean?"
Fang Yiren whispered: "The enemy's move to block the enemy's eastward advance was not wrong, but in my opinion, we not only need to block Chen Yongfu and Yuan Shizhong's eastward advance, but we should also allocate troops to seize the entrance to Dingjia Road.
In Yucheng County and the Jianchengji area, river defenses are organized to prevent emergencies.
If the Qing army really moves south from Yucheng and the Dangshan River section, we will be attacked from both sides. In our haste and lack of experience in fighting the Donglu, we are likely to face heavy losses."