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

Chapter 252
Xuzhou, Xiao County.

Xiao County (Suzhou, Anhui) at this time belonged to Xuzhou Prefecture, Jiangsu Province. Also belonging to Xuzhou was Dangshan County, which was rich in pears in later generations.

Just when the Ming army launched a large-scale westward expedition to Hubei and became overwhelming, Zhang Wenhuan, who was in Xuzhou, finally made a move.

[-] northwest frontier troops, [-] Shengjing Sauron troops, and more than [-] Cao troops directly under Zhang Wenhuan, totaling [-] troops, were all dispatched.

In order to save civilians in transporting food, they also speeded up the march and built logistical food routes.

Zhang Wenhuan marched directly by water, starting from Xuzhou, passing through Xiaoxian County and crossing Xuxikou, to Suzhou to rest and establish a grain station, and then changed the route to Huihe River to arrive at Guzhen.

Naturally, it was impossible for the Qing army to conceal such a large-scale troop mobilization and food and grass transportation from the Ming army in Huainan.

"..."

Yang Gong looked at the military report in his hand and couldn't help but look strange.

To be honest, before this, he had always thought that the Qing army was unlikely to take the initiative to attack Huainan, but more likely to attack Huai'an.

Even Yang Gong is ready to support the Huai'an war at any time.

Well, cross the river to attack the Qing army, surround Wei and rescue Zhao.

This is Yang Gong’s original idea!
But soon, plans couldn't keep up with the changes.Yang Gong did not expect that the Qing general who commanded the troops on the opposite side would be so courageous and dare to lead his troops to attack him.

Yang Gong immediately began to divide his troops, leaving only one town remaining in Shouzhou to prevent unexpected events.

The rest of the troops rushed to Fengyang's aid.

Yang Gong could guess what Zhang Wenhuan was thinking even with his eyes closed. He was preparing to force himself to gather troops for a decisive battle.

When the Qing army entered Guzhen, it was obvious that they were going to cross the Huaihe River via Huangdu and attack Fengyang.

There are countless ferries along the Huaihe River, but there is only one ferry called "Huangdu" by the locals, and that is Shili Ferry.

At that time, Lao Zhu was born in a village on the other side of Shilili Ferry. After he proclaimed himself emperor and established the Ming Dynasty, Fengyang was built as the central capital.This ten-mile ferry was also highly praised by Lao Zhu and was orally canonized as the "Royal Ferry".

In addition, most of the refugees on the southern crossings of Luchen and Yongjia in Shenzhou fled south from Huangdu.In the past, when Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, was defeated by Gai, he also broke out from Guzhen and went south to Huangdu.

Guo Xingye's Northern Expedition also took the imperial ferry across Huaibei, frightening Emperor Shunzhi in Beijing to the point of sitting on pins and needles.

In addition to its important strategic position, Huangdu's commercial position is equally important.

Before the Ming army reached the Huai River and confronted the Manchu Qing across the Huai River, there was an endless stream of boats coming and going here every day.

The Qing army did not stay in Guzhen for too long. They recruited a large number of civilians to transport grain, grass and baggage and build logistical grain routes.

With everything ready, Zhang Wenhuan, a veteran Manchu general, finally moved from Guzhen and moved south.

Two days later, the vanguard of the Qing army arrived at Huangdu.

After receiving the news, the Ming army on the other side also made preparations. The main force of the First Army, [-] strong, was all stationed on the tidal flats on the other side of the Huangdu. One town was moved to the Hao River (a tributary of the Huai River) to prevent the Qing army from bypassing the rear and making a surprise attack. .

June fifteenth.

Good day.

Zhang Wenhuan arrived at Huangdu Ferry in May, and it took him a lot of time to collect and cut down temporary trees to build the ferry.

Until now, we had finally managed to scrape together a ferry that could land thousands of Qing troops at once.

As a veteran on the battlefield, Zhang Wenhuan naturally understands the truth that arrogant soldiers will be defeated. He will not rush across the river to start a battle just because he has elite soldiers from the northwest and Shengjing Sauron soldiers in his hands.

Since we want to fight, we should launch a fierce attack at once so that the rebels on the other side of the river can be caught off guard.

During the day, there was still no movement at Huangdu Ferry.The Ming army had been on alert a month ago, firing wildly at the other side of the Huaihe River at the first sign of trouble. Up to now, they only fired two cannons from time to time to pay attention to the movements of the Qing army.

The Qing army always refused to cross the river, and the Ming army almost became accustomed to facing each other across the Huaihe River.

It was night, and a large number of Qing soldiers suddenly appeared at Huangdu Ferry, which had always been very quiet in the past.

Cao Di came to the battle in person, holding only a torch. He pressed the hilt of the sword at his waist energetically and shouted: "Quick, quick! Please move quickly, this town finally obtained this from Marshal Zhang." Don’t let Marshal Zhang and other colleagues take advantage of us!” Under his order, thousands of well-equipped and murderous green battalion Qing soldiers were constantly moving a large number of ferries and boats from the rear.When we came to the ferry river, we put it down directly, and then a group of Qing soldiers boarded the boat and began to cross the river.

It was only the fifth watch at this time, which was around three or four o'clock in the morning.

Although it was already dark, the movements of the Qing army still could not be concealed from the Ming army.

Looking across the river, more and more torches appeared at the ferry and began to float on the river.

A battalion of soldiers on the night shift of the Ming Army were instantly startled by the scene on the other side of the river.

The leader of the team subconsciously counted the number of torches. Before he finished counting, he immediately said with a surprised look on his face: "With so many torches, there must be at least hundreds of people! No, hurry up and knock the gong, and tell the general, Qing The dog crossed the river at night!”

Thousands of people crossed the river at once, and a steady stream of torches appeared behind them. This was obviously the Qing army preparing to cross the river in a large scale to attack.

Good guy, there has been no movement for a month, and whenever there is movement, it is a big move.

More importantly, this is only the situation at Huangdu Ferry, and there is also Linhuaiguan. If the Qing army also crosses the river in the dark in the middle of the night and makes a surprise attack around the back, it will be in big trouble.

The Ming army was beating gongs and drums, and soon the entire camp was lit up with lights.

The first one to react was the Ming army's red cannon.

Although the gunners were woken up urgently in the middle of the night, they did not complain at all.After quickly adjusting their status, a group of eight people loaded the artillery shells and gunpowder very skillfully.

"Boom boom boom!"

There was a rumble of artillery, and the Ming army fired a volley of artillery fire.

It's only around three o'clock in the morning, and there's still at least an hour until dawn.

Although there were many torches on the river, they couldn't be seen clearly under the cover of darkness.And the Ming army fired artillery at night. Under limited light conditions, coupled with the poor hit rate of the red cannons.

The Ming army fired a round of artillery fire, even if it was just a test fire, but with the rich experience of the veteran gunners of the First Army, the artillery shells...the artillery shells had no idea whether they hit or not.

Because the number of torches on the river seems to have remained unchanged at all, and has even increased.

Zhang Wenhuan is worthy of being a veteran. He not only knew how to attack with a large force, but also knew how to cross the river in the dark at night.

Although the Qing army would suffer more when crossing the river in the dark, it could almost completely destroy the Ming army's artillery.

Moreover, crossing the river at three o'clock in the morning is the time when people are most sleepy. It is considered good to be able to achieve five or six achievements in terms of combat effectiveness.

The Qing army suddenly crossed the river to attack again, and the Ming army was caught off guard. The success rate of crossing the river can at least increase several steps.

By the time the Qing army successfully crosses the river, it will be almost dawn and the decisive battle will begin.

As the saying goes, I am exhausted.

Yang Gong put down his telescope, frowned slightly, and after pondering for a moment, he said: "My general ordered the artillery not to stop and to continue shooting. If the distance is appropriate, it is allowed to replace the shells and shotguns. It does not require much damage, as long as Deterrence enough!”

"Yes!"

The messenger immediately got on his horse and went down to convey the order. The flag messenger could not be used in the dark, so the soldiers could only convey the message orally.

After giving the order to the artillery battalion, Yang Gong immediately followed the direction of the torches on the river and asked his soldiers and horses from the three towns to move to the three ferry tidal flats on the river bank to block the Qing troops crossing the river with all their strength.

And he personally led a group of soldiers and horses in his headquarters, ready to provide support at any time.

"Boom boom boom!"

On the other side of the river, Ming army artillery fire roared.

But the thunder was loud and the raindrops were light, so there was a high probability that they would not be able to stop the Qing troops crossing the river.

In the first battle, before the Ming army could cross the river and attack, Zhang Wenhuan had a time lag and was defeated by the Jiadu River surprise attack.

The battle to cross the Huaihe River is about to break out.

　so sleepy
　　
　
(End of this chapter)