I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 203 The message can be decided!

If Anqing Prefecture is captured, troops must be sent immediately.

Otherwise, the longer the dispatch of troops is delayed, the more time the Huainan prefectures will have to gather troops, and it will be difficult to fight by then.

Yang Gong's military report to Nanjing clearly stated that the battle line must be pushed to the front line of Luzhou Prefecture.Otherwise, the Anqing Mansion would be in vain. Not only would it have no strategic value, but it would also become a useless resource for the Ming army.

However, taking Luzhou is only the minimum, and the ideal is to push it to Fengyang.It is not only the central capital of the Ming Dynasty, but also the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum (the mausoleum of Zhu Yuanzhang's parents and brothers) is also in Fengyang Mansion.

And, most importantly, Shouzhou (Shou County) is also under the jurisdiction of Fengyang Prefecture.

If Luzhou is the center of the Huaihe River defense line and must be captured, then Shouzhou is the gateway to the Huaihe River defense line and is even more top priority.

If the battle line can be successfully pushed to Shouzhou, then even if Yongzheng transfers all the 24 elite troops from the northwest and the Sauron Battalion, the Ming army will rely on the Huaihe River to compete with the puppet Qing Dynasty.

If you guard the river, you must keep it accurate.

It’s not just about guarding the Yangtze River, but also guarding the Zhunhe River.

It is also said that as long as the Huaihe River is in hand, the Yangtze River defense line can be as solid as gold.

Oh, except for a certain bald man named Chang.

While Yang Gong was reporting to Nanjing, he had actually ordered to continuously allocate soldiers, horses, food, and salaries from southern Anhui to concentrate them in Anqing.

This was the power of the commander-in-chief of his Western Expeditionary Army, and the troops he mobilized were all from the First Army. Zheng Dingrui's Second Army was ordered by him to take over the First Army's responsibility for the military defense of southern Anhui.

The First Army and the Second Army have all been transferred, leaving only the Fourth Army in Jiangxi, which is naturally a bit difficult to support.

But it doesn't matter, compared to the importance of Huaiyang, the remaining unbeaten Nangan is really not worth mentioning.

Moreover, the Ming army already holds Nanchang and sits on the vast Poyang Lake plain.

As long as we send another [-] to [-] soldiers and horses here, it will be a matter of time before we capture Southern Gansu.

On the tenth day after the Ming army entered Anqing Mansion, the imperial edict from Nanjing was finally sent to Anqing from the Yangtze River.

At this moment, Anqing has everything ready, all it needs is the east wind.Now, the east wind is coming, and Yang Gong naturally doesn't delay at all.

As usual, he left a town of soldiers and horses to garrison in Anqing. Yang Gong immediately led an army of [-] people and a large number of civilians and baggage to attack Luzhou Prefecture.

The reason why there are only [-] is because Fu Yunsheng's fifth town was destroyed in the previous battle in Chizhou.Moreover, the Privy Council had a new appointment for him, so he did not come.

However, even without this small force, Yang Gong still had an army of [-].Coupled with the fall of Anqing Mansion, Longkoduo was defeated and fled the Yangtze River.

You must know that communication efficiency in ancient times was extremely low. As long as the distance was slightly further, the news transmitted plus rumors could change the real situation beyond recognition.

This is also the reason why Longkodo did not return to northern Anhui to take charge of the overall situation.

Although the main force of the Qing army was not damaged, if Longkoduo returned in despair.Moreover, even the Anqing Mansion was lost, and everyone was afraid that Governor Talong would be defeated.

Even if we go back to Wanbei, it is probably difficult to defend it. On the contrary, it is really possible that all the elite soldiers on hand will be trapped.

Facts have proved that Long Keduo's idea was correct, and even more exaggerated.

Tongcheng County is obviously the closest, but there are rumors everywhere in Tongcheng County that Longkoduo's army was wiped out long ago under Chizhou City.

Otherwise, how could the rebels capture Anqing so easily and quickly, and Governor Long had no news at all.

So, how the hell can we fight like this?
A few days after the Ming army started heading north, the magistrate of Tongcheng County, who was the first to bear the brunt of the attack, did not hesitate at all after learning the news.

The army was still more than twenty miles away from the county seat, so the magistrate of Tongcheng County immediately sent people to come and tell everyone in Tongcheng County to voluntarily submit to the Ming Dynasty King's army.

Tongcheng County was captured just like that.

Effortless!

The First Army did not stay here. It only took a short supply of supplies, rested for a day, and then continued to march north.

Further north is the border between the two prefectures - Beixia Pass.

Beixiaguan, standing on the border of Tongcheng and Shucheng counties, is actually the north gate of Anqing Prefecture.

One pass is dominating, and the north and the south are divided.

"Tongcheng County Chronicle" records: "It's far from Lufeng in the north and Jianghuang in the south."

Once the Jianghuai war breaks out, Beixia Pass will definitely become a battlefield.

Although the Shucheng County Magistrate is a scholar, he still has the ability to talk on paper.He understood that if Beibei Pass was lost, his Shucheng County would become a front line, and he would never be able to stop the rebel army.

He simply did not care about exceeding his authority and forcibly opened the Changping warehouse of the county government (which was the exclusive responsibility of Daotai), took all the money and grain stored in it, and recruited local braves.

He also personally "persuaded" the big gentry in the county to surrender as his great master, and finally raised [-] rural soldiers with great efforts.

As a result, before they were sent to Beixia Pass, the prefect was half way there, saying that the city was empty.

The county magistrate of Shucheng was helpless. He could neither persuade nor persuade him.They had no choice but to let Fucheng take away half of their troops.

Yang Gong is currently leading his army to attack all the way to Daguan Town, which is also a strategic location.But even Tongcheng County surrendered, and Daguan Town naturally surrendered without hesitation.

The Ming army marched along the road without encountering any obstacles, and soon arrived at Beipoguan.We are looking for a place to set up camp and discuss how to quickly overcome this barrier.

After all, the longer this road goes on, the more Qing troops can be gathered in important places such as Luzhou and Fengyang.

"General, the Qing army has been spotted ahead." At this time, the scout cavalry who went out to explore the enemy's situation reported.Yang Gong's face straightened and he gave the order: "Get ready to meet the enemy."

However, as the Ming army quickly formed their formation, they saw several Qing soldiers suddenly running over from a distance.He was holding a dead head in his hand, and it didn't look like he was here to surprise them.

Yang Gong was stunned, waved his hand, and his soldiers left the team and quickly stepped forward to ask about the situation: "What do you want to do?"

The one who spoke was the Qing soldier who was holding the dead man's head in his hand. He stepped forward and said, "We are the defenders of Beixia Pass. We were forcibly recruited by the government to guard this pass."

"I heard that Emperor Ming's army was coming, so we discussed it. We couldn't stop them anyway, and we didn't have enough to eat. Why should we work for this stupid government?"

"Here, this is the general who was sent by the government to lead us to guard this bird pass."

After that, he moved the bloody head forward in his hand.

The soldier's expression suddenly changed. He was not frightened by the dead man's head, but by the words of the several Qing soldiers in front of him.

He didn't dare to neglect immediately and hurried back to report.

When Yang Gong learned the news, his expression suddenly became strange.He came here to attack Beixiaguan, but Tongcheng County surrendered to the wind, but Beixiaguan actually killed officials and rebelled, just to defect to them?

Ha ha.

Yang Gong did not 100% trust those Qing soldiers. He first left the people's baggage behind and let them continue to set up camp, while he personally led an army of [-] to tentatively move towards Beixia Pass.

Fortunately, those Qing soldiers didn't lie. They didn't even get close to the range where the artillery could shoot, and the gate of Beixia was opened.

Yang Gong captured Beixia Pass without any effort, and he also accepted more than a thousand garrison troops in Guancheng.

Although these defenders cannot be directly incorporated into the Ming army, they can still serve as temporary civilians who help transport supplies.

The First Army did not stop at Beixia Pass and left the pass on the second day to march north.

When they arrived at Shucheng County, the magistrate of Shucheng County still wanted to defend the city.

But when he saw the [-] Ming troops outside the city, he didn't give in. The civilian soldiers guarding the city at the top of the city gave in.

As the gate of Shucheng County was opened by his own defenders, the magistrate of Shucheng County jumped down from the city tower at the same time.

Another one jumped from the city and committed suicide.

It's a pity that the official was too young and was just a county magistrate, so Yang Gong didn't pay much attention to him.

In Luzhou Prefecture, the prefect of Luzhou learned that Shucheng County was lost. He immediately put oil on his feet without any hesitation.

He ran away!
Even Lord Long died at the hands of the rebels, and he still kept silent.

But when he ran away like this, the entire Luzhou Prefecture naturally lost the ability to resist.

Although Luzhou Prefecture still has thousands of troops, although Luzhou Prefecture has high walls and thick walls, although Luzhou Prefecture has sufficient food...

Yang Gong took over Luzhou Fucheng, a strategic town in Huainan, without any effort.

It's ridiculous that the Luzhou prefect said earlier that the city was empty and forcibly removed Shucheng County's troops, which indirectly led to the weakening of Shucheng County's military strength, although it did not affect it.

In the end, he ran away without any resistance.Only a complete Luzhou city was thrown to the Ming army.

In a word, human words are terrifying!
Once you get to Luzhou Prefecture, the road north to Fengyang is already a flat plain with no danger to defend.

Yang Gong did not hesitate and sent troops decisively. He wanted a quick victory.

The success of the attack (takeover) of Luzhou Prefecture allowed Yang Gong to fully see the strength of the puppet Qing Dynasty in northern Anhui.

Except for the marching time spent along the way and the loss of military rations during daily marches, the Ming army suffered almost no losses in Luzhou Prefecture.

That being the case, there's nothing to hesitate about, just rush over.

Yang Gong only stationed [-] troops in Luzhou Prefecture, and then personally led the remaining three towns, totaling [-] troops, in the northern expedition to Shouzhou.

Shouzhou belongs to Fengyang Prefecture and has two counties under its jurisdiction. It is similar to Zhili Prefecture, but not the same.

The only green camp Shouchun town in Anhui is located in Shouzhou, which shows Shouzhou's strategic position and the importance the Puppet Qing Dynasty attached to it.

But now, Shouchun Town has been transferred by Longkoduo.

It only relies on Shouzhou's own few soldiers and horses, plus some young and strong civilian men recruited temporarily.

Shouzhou took the lead to resist the Ming army's offensive!
Yang Gong only used infantry and artillery coordination, and did not even send out heavy armor soldiers.

After just one round of siege, the few defenders at the head of Shouzhou City collapsed on the spot.

Everyone fled desperately to the bottom of the city, and the Ming army took control of the city and the city gates calmly.

Shouzhou City was captured like this, and it didn't look like a major military town at all.

The magistrate of Shouzhou committed suicide by taking poison in the government office.

At this point, it only took the Ming army less than half a month to completely control the Huaihe River defense line from Luzhou Prefecture to Shouzhou.

As for the remaining prefectures and counties south of the Huaihe River, the Ming army did not even need to attack them.

The message can be determined!

(End of this chapter)