Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 216 Take Nanjing directly
Hou Fangyu said: "Going back to the prince of Yu, there are two main roads from Xuzhou to Nanjing. One is the land road passing through Fengyang Mansion, Chuzhou, and then to Nanjing. , and the other is the waterway through Huai’an Mansion, Yangzhou Mansion and then to Nanjing, which is farther away, but much easier to walk.”

Duoduo hummed lightly and then asked, "Then, which of these two roads is more prosperous?"

Hearing Duoduo's words, Hou Fangyu knew what he wanted to do, which was nothing more than robbery.

After all, Jiannu had destroyed customs and entered the bandits six times before, messing up the entire north.

But Hou Fangyu didn't object to this, from the moment that bitch turned his back on him to join the National Disaster Troupe, from the moment he refused to pass through the "Gate of Life and Death" set up by Chongzhen, Hou Fangyu and Daming had in fact severed their friendship.

After Du Yinxi obeyed Chongzhen's decree to equalize the land in Guide Mansion, he, Hou Fangyu, and Daming had even become enemies.

"Of course it is the road of Huai'an Prefecture and Yangzhou Prefecture." Hou Fangyu replied without hesitation, "Seven percent of Ming's wealth is in Jiangnan, and at least three percent of Jiangnan's wealth is in Yangzhou."

"Yangzhou is the largest gathering place of salt merchants in Ming Dynasty."

"If you want to talk about prosperity in Ming Dynasty, Yangzhou is of course the most important."

Speaking of this, Hou Fangyu went on to say: "Not only is Yangzhou rich, but Huai'an is also rich, and most of the richest market towns along the way are concentrated on the two rivers of the canal. Prince Yu led the army to go south without leaving. It is really convenient to rob the wealth of the entire Jiangnan along the canal."

Duoduo was a little worried, and frowned and said: "But the road between Huai'an Mansion and Yangzhou Mansion is a waterway. Our army has no boats, so it's inconvenient to march across the river. It will be even more troublesome if you encounter the navy of the Ming army."

"It's convenient, it's more convenient to go by water." Hou Fangyu hurriedly said, "As long as Prince Yu leads an army to conquer Huai'an Prefecture, he will be able to obtain a large number of tank ships. At that time, my Qing soldiers can go south by boat."

"Is there a tank boat?" Duoduo's heart moved slightly, "You mean there are many tank boats in Huai'an Prefecture?"

Hou Fangyu said: "Prince Yu, Nanming's water transportation governor's office is located in Shanyang, the prefecture of Huai'an, and there have never been less than a thousand water boats moored at the Shanyang canal wharf!"

"A thousand tank ships?" Duoduo was overjoyed when he heard this.

It would be great if we could snatch the thousand tank boats from Shanyang.

Not only can the marching route to the south be easier, but after robbing food treasures, women, children and livestock from Jiangnan, they can also be sent back to Xuzhou through the canal, and then directly take the canal back to Beijing, just like when they ransacked Shandong with two white flags. It's not too easy to go back to the customs by sea by boat.

But Duoduo was still a little worried about the navy of the Ming army, and asked Hou Fangyu: "Where is the navy of the Ming army stationed now?"

"Prince Yu doesn't have to worry about the navy of the Ming army at all." Hou Fangyu said, "The weather in the south of the Yangtze River this year is extremely cold. Even the Huaihe River, which was never frozen in previous years, was frozen because I was worried that it would be trapped by ice. Years ago, I never Before Shanyang left to return home, the navy of the Ming army had already withdrawn from the Hongze Lake Water Village to Yunti Pass."

"Oh, there is such a thing?" Duoduo was overjoyed when he heard this.

This is really in line with an old saying that the world and the earth work together, but heroes are not free when they are transported away.

Even God helped him, so Nanming and Chongzhen deserved to be unlucky. Maybe this time not only could they loot Jiangnan, but they might also have a chance to directly take down Nanjing and copy Chongzhen's lair.

If this is the case, what is the use of Chongzhen defending Xuzhou?
It's just that Duoduo still kept his eyes open and didn't trust Hou Fangyu credulously.

He Luohui first asked Hou Fangyu to take him away, and then Duoduo asked Fan Chengmo to call another son of a gentleman from Shangqiu who came with him, but he also said the same thing as Hou Fangyu, and now Duduo finally believed it.

……

This day plus one night, Duduo had a good sleep.

However, Chongzhen didn't close his eyes at all, and was awakened by the continuous sound of horns when he was ignorant the next day. He hurriedly got up and went to the bunker hall, only to see Jin Shenghuan also rushing out.

"Your Majesty." Jin Shenghuan was about to salute, but was stopped by Chongzhen.

"You don't need to worry about me." Chongzhen replied that Jiannu was going to attack again, and said anxiously, "Get on the gun platform quickly."

Jin Shenghuan no longer cared about Chongzhen, and while holding the bowl and buckling it on his head, he slowly climbed onto the gun platform.

After a while, Chongzhen also came to the platform of the gun platform, but found that the weather on the platform was calm, and the emotions of both the frontier soldiers and scholars were very stable.

Because Jiannu didn't attack at all.

"Your Majesty." Xu Yingwei, who was on guard at night, came forward to greet him.

"Xu Qing, what's going on?" Chongzhen asked, "Did Jiannu attack?"

"No." Xu Yingwei shook his head and said, "I only heard the sound of horns and drums, but I didn't see any Jiannu coming."

"There is such a thing?" Chongzhen frowned slightly, and then listened for a while, his face suddenly changed slightly, "Jianu is preparing to divide the troops!"

"Divide the troops?" Jin Shenghuan was stunned.

Xu Yingwei said: "Your Majesty is saying that Jiannu is going to leave some troops to besiege Xuzhou for a long time, and then send some troops to go south to harass and loot Southern Zhili?"

"It's not as simple as just intrusion and looting." Chongzhen said, "If there is a chance, Jiannu will not mind shooting an arrow through Daming's heart and taking Nanjing directly!"

"Ah?" The expressions of the surrounding frontier soldiers changed drastically upon hearing this.

Xu Yingwei and other Qin Wang Shizi looked calm, because just a few years ago, on the way north to Xuzhou, Chongzhen took them to deduce countless times about the enemy's situation of building slaves and going south.

So such a change happened, they were not surprised at all.

However, no surprise is no surprise, but worry is still worry.

Xu Yingwei persuaded in a low voice: "My lord, if Jiannu really divides his troops to go south, he will probably go to Huai'an. Right now, Huai'an Prefecture only has [-] newly recruited township warriors, and even the [-] transport troops from the Water Transportation Department are following the road department. The Tang was transferred to Pizhou, and I was worried that the Huai'an Mansion would fall, or should I lead a team of scholars to rush to help?"

"Rush to help?" Chongzhen shook his head and said, "How do you go? Ice skating on the river?"

"Ice skating?" Xu Yingwei was stunned when he heard the words, and then he reacted and sighed, "Yes, as long as we go out of the city, we will definitely be discovered by Jiannu, and the Mongolian cavalry will definitely come to chase and kill us, and we can't even run away."

"So, let's put all our thoughts on Yunlong Mountain." Chongzhen said, "As for the Huai'an Mansion, leave it to Yan Yingyuan, Mao Xiang, Huaxia and other prince Qin scholars. I believe they can keep it."

As for places such as Yangzhou, Chuzhou and even Nanjing in the south, whether Jiannu can go that far is still a question. Even if he goes there desperately, he will not be able to win it.
After all, Huanghuai was not lost at this time, and Jiannu's heavy troops could not make it through.

While speaking, the sky gradually brightened, and he was finally able to see clearly.

As expected, Jiannu had divided his troops, and he saw teams of cavalry, teams of infantry and carriages coming out of the gate of the camp continuously.

Did not see Hongyi Cannon.

The long line walked for nearly half a day.

Even with the most conservative estimate, there are less than [-] Jiannu who left the camp.

"It's a pity." Zhu Cijiong who was standing beside Chongzhen suddenly sighed softly.

Chongzhen also said it was a pity in his heart. It is a pity that even if the Jiannu soldiers were divided into two groups, the Jiannu who stayed in Xuzhou was by no means something that the Ming army could defeat.

The next day, the Jiannu who stayed in Xuzhou divided their forces again into four groups.

The four-way Jiannu set up camps in the four directions of Xuzhou, the southeast, the north, and the west.

What makes Chongzhen even more regretful is that even if the Jiannu troops are divided again and divided into four groups, each unit can have at most [-] to [-] soldiers, but the Ming army still cannot fight in field battles, so they can still only fight defensive battles.

Immediately afterwards, tens of thousands of coated slaves began to dig trenches outside the twelfth heavy gun platform of the Ming army.

The blockade ditch dug by these dog slaves is almost two feet deep and five feet wide. It is much worse in specification than the blunderbuss trenches, but it is much longer. Part of the river channel with the Yellow River is included, and it is precisely because of the Yellow River that the blockade 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 are ten frontier troops stationed in Pizhou City. It is one of the three major towns on the Huanghuai defense line.

The Huanghuai line of defense designed by Chongzhen did not spread out the pie and distribute the troops equally, but garrisoned the three strategic support points with heavy troops, and then guarded the counties and important market towns with rural courage.

As for the vast surrounding countryside, it can only be strategically abandoned.

At most, when Jiannu came to fight, they would try to transfer the people into the city as much as possible.

The scholar in charge of training the courage of the township in Suining County is Huaxia, a student from Ningbo.

When Huaxia came to Suining County, he only had the will of Chongzhen on him, and 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 if you put it in a unique position and try it out.

Huaxia is undoubtedly a capable scholar. On the third day in Suining, he recruited more than a hundred Xiangyong, and then brought the Xiangyong to Shanyang City to bring back the money and food, and then came to apply for Xiangyong. 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, Huaxia did not accept all applicants regardless of the good and the bad, but screened the strong men who came to apply, and screened them according to their performance, leaving only the honest people in the countryside.

Huaxia finally recruited more than [-] Xiangyong, and then began to train according to the training method of the Shiziying.

It is to memorize the new performance book and walk in the queue, and then train the equipment, and at the same time start to build the gun platform fortifications. Anyway, it is the same way that Chongzhen trained the scholar camp from the beginning.

In addition, Xiangyong's rations were also given in full.

In addition to three full meals a day, each person also had three buckets of rice per month.

It must be admitted that most of the township braves actually came for these three buckets of rice.

Scholar-bureaucrats would rather starve to death than bend their waists for five buckets of rice, but Shengdou ordinary people can sell their lives to you in order to get a bucket of rice to feed their wives and children. This is how different people are.

When Hua Xia came back from Pizhou City, he felt that the weather had turned cold again.

"My lord, it's cold again." Wang Pohu, the captain of the soldiers selected by Huaxia, said with a concerned face, "Add some clothes as a reward, but don't freeze."

"It's okay, it's not that cold." Hua Xia said, "Our weather in Ningbo is also almost cold."

But that's what I said, but when I walked to Sui River and was blown by the cold wind, Huaxia still shrank her neck. It was really cold, and the northwest wind blowing was like a knife, and it hurt people's faces.

"Has the ice layer been knocked?" Hua Xia asked as he walked.

"Knock it." Wang Pohu nodded and said, "It's a lot thicker, and it's no problem for a carriage weighing a thousand catties to cross the river."

"Is the ice layer already this thick?" Huaxia immediately frowned, because Suining County is close to the south bank of Suining River, and Suining County is the moat of Suining County. Now that Suining River is frozen so thick, it means that there is no moat. Protect.

But fortunately, there are still more than [-] blunderbuss towers surrounding Suining County. Even if the army of founding slaves arrives, it will not be easy to advance to Suining County in a short time.

After a pause, Huaxia continued to ask: "Has the third batch of spears from the arsenal been delivered?"

"Just delivered." Wang Pohu nodded and said, "I have already counted them. There are a total of [-] spears, but they are just bamboo spears. It is said that there are not so many iron and wood."

"A bamboo pole is just a bamboo pole, it's better than nothing."

While the two were talking, they had already reached a gun platform.

I saw teams of Xiangyong entering the gun platform from the entrance.

These village braves were either picked by one person or carried by two people, and carried buckets of dung, bags of quicklime, and several large iron pots into the gun platform.

Outside the blunderbuss platform, there is Xiangyong who is making a fishing net.

Seeing Huaxia coming, Xiangyong stood up and greeted him.

Huaxia bowed in return, squatted down and picked up a knotted fishing net, and pulled it hard, but his knuckles turned white, but the ramie fishing net was still intact.

"My lord, don't worry." A simple and honest Xiangyong said, "The fishing net made of ramie is firmly secured."

"Well, it's better to be firm." Hua Xia nodded and said, "If it's not strong enough, then Jianu can't be caught."

As soon as Huaxia's voice fell, a Xiangyong on the gun platform suddenly pointed to the northwest and shouted: "Look, my lord, the wolf smoke! The wolf smoke is rising from the northwest!"

Huaxia turned around suddenly, and sure enough, he saw the smoke of a wolf rising in the northwest.

In order to allow time for the people outside the county to enter the county to escape, Huaxia specially sent people to build beacon towers in various directions. Once a large army of slaves invaded the country, they would light up the beacon during the day and light the beacon at night.

Now that the smoke is rising, it means that Jiannu is coming to Suining.

"Quick!" Huaxia became nervous in an instant, and shouted, "The defense teams of each gun platform immediately entered their respective gun platforms, set up a cauldron to boil golden juice, and the Xiangyong who stayed in the county town went to transfer the people!"

"Within an hour, all the people must enter the city!"

The farthest beacon tower is about forty miles away from Suining County.

It will take an hour and a half at the fastest for the Jiannu army to come.

(End of this chapter)