Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1348

After the tentative attack, it didn't take long for Meng Qiaofang to organize troops to attack the ferry again.

Because he had figured out the defensive methods of the Ming army, Meng Qiaofang made sufficient preparations. He ordered the soldiers to carry two wooden boards and put them on the soles of their feet when they approached the hills to guard against the Ming army's insidious methods, and then attacked the hills on both sides at the same time. .

The intention of the Jin army is obvious, that is, they hope to take down the hills on both sides and bombard the Ming army in the valley with artillery, so that the ferry will be within easy reach.

This time the Jin army rushed to the top of the hill and had a melee battle with the Ming army, but because the Ming army under the long wall of the valley bypassed the foot of the mountain to attack the back of the Jin army, the Jin army retreated again.

The time soon came to mid-January. The [-] soldiers of the Ming army north of the ferry were first wiped out by the Jin army general Sun Sike. The five hundred Ming troops repelled.

After Sun Sike harassed the ferry and restrained Wang Guangtai's energy, Meng Qiaofang regrouped and launched an attack on the Ming army's front.But this time, relying on the superiority of his troops, he carried out a frontal feint attack, and the main force stormed the hills on both sides.

The two sides fought all morning, the Jin army suffered heavy casualties, and the Ming army's front was also in jeopardy.Wang Guangtai saw that the top of the right-wing mountain was about to fall, so he hurriedly let off smoke to ask for help.

Li Laiheng in Wubao County was always paying attention to the battle at the ferry. When he saw the wolf smoke, he immediately led his army to attack the Jin army outside the city, forcing Meng Qiaofang to retreat again.

The battle at the ferry gradually turned into a tug of war. Meng Qiaofang attacked the ferry, and Li Laiheng stormed the Jin army outside the east city.

The entire battle was extremely fierce, and both the Ming and Jin armies suffered heavy casualties. At the end of January, the Jin army brought a turning point, and Chang'an sent another [-] troops to Meng Qiaofang.

The Jin army was supplemented to a certain extent, and the battle situation in northern Shaanxi was becoming more and more unfavorable to the Ming army. After the two hills fell, Wang Guangtai led the remnant soldiers to retreat to the ferry to be trapped.

However, in February, the weather is gradually getting warmer, and seeing the snow on the top of the mountain slowly melting, Meng Qiaofang doesn't have enough time.

······
The time has entered 1658 AD, the ninth year of the Ming Dynasty, and 11 years after Jin Yongzhang. Seeing that the spring is about to bloom, the whole country of Jin has also become anxious because of the gradually rising temperature.

As soon as the cold winter passed, the Kingdom of Jin lost its protective umbrella, and the Ming army's fierce attack was about to come.

The Kingdom of Jin was passively beaten and defended everywhere. Guanzhong would be breached one day. Hauge realized this, and everyone in the Kingdom of Jin hoped to break through this predicament.

While fighting fiercely in northern Shaanxi, the Kingdom of Jin tried to launch several small-scale counterattacks in order to change the unfavorable situation.

Tang Tong went out of Tongguan to carry out a surprise attack on the Ming army and captured more than 20 red cannons from the Ming army. However, the Ming army in Henan gathered together, and Tang Tong's counterattack was short-lived, and he quickly retreated to Guanzhong.

In Hanzhong, in order to change the passive situation, Wu Sangui also rode He Tengjiao and Ma Jinzhong's troops in Guangyuan, Jiange and other places, and was blocked in the south of Daba Mountain. There was no chance to echo the Huguang Ming army, so he led [-] cavalry and [-] steps The army entered Huguang along the Han River.

The current situation in the Kingdom of Jin is too much in need of a mobile force, forming an advantage in a local area, fighting a counterattack, and seeking a breakthrough. Otherwise, in terms of the national strength of the two countries, the Kingdom of Jin will be passively defending everywhere and will inevitably fail.

Hauge and Wu Sangui are both able to fight, and they are both thinking of a way to break the game. Wu Sangui intends to break Huguang's Hao Yaoqi first, and Sichuan's He Tengjiao is not a worry.

Wu Sangui wants to remove the threat from Hanzhong first, so that he can have the opportunity to support Guanzhong and reverse the current unfavorable situation.

The Ming army did not expect that the Jin army would fight back again and again, and their fighting spirit was obviously much stronger than that of the previous Qing army.

In a passive situation, Wu Sangui entered Huguang, beat the Ming army by a single mistake, broke through Baituguan, Zhuxi, Zhushan, Yunxi and other places, defeated the three battalions of the Ming army, captured countless people, and shocked Xianghan.

After achieving certain results, Wu Sangui rushed to the headquarters of the Ming army non-stop, intending to capture Xiangyang in one fell swoop, and the plan of the Ming army to attack Guanzhong would inevitably be affected. However, Hao Yaoqi led [-] Ming troops to the camp in Yun County. No matter how provocative Wu Sangui might be, he couldn't stand firm, closed the door without fighting, and blocked Wu Sangui at the boundary of Yunyang Mansion.

Wu Sangui had no choice but to attack Wang Bazhai of the Ming Army, and he didn't want to attack forcefully, causing too many casualties to the army.

Right now, the entire battlefield is divided into three large areas, Northern Shaanxi, Hanzhong and Guanzhong. Guanzhong is facing 30 heavy troops from the Ming Dynasty. It is impossible to fight back, so Tang Tong's attack was only a flash in the pan, and he was quickly driven back Tongguan.

The most promising places for the Jin Army to make a breakthrough are in northern Shaanxi and Hanzhong. However, Meng Qiaofang fell into a brutal tug-of-war in northern Shaanxi, and failed to annihilate Li Laiheng, Wang Guangtai, and Wang Yongqiang in northern Shaanxi and change the disadvantages of northern Shaanxi.

Although Wu Sangui once entered Huguang and shocked the Jianghan Plain, he did not defeat Hao Yaoqi's main force.

After Wu Sangui returned to Hanzhong, he still faced the situation of Sichuan and Huguang attacking from both sides, and Jin Guo did not make a breakthrough in Hanzhong.

At the beginning of February, there was a fierce battle in northern Shaanxi, and rivers of blood flowed. Not long after Wu Sangui returned to Hanzhong, the Ming army, which had been dormant for a winter, finally kicked off the prelude to destroying gold.

At this time in Henan, the assembled troops already included 9 elite soldiers from Zhongzhi Town and Zhongyong Town, 9 Hengchong Horse Army, 3 horse infantry troops from the three towns of the Wuwei Army, 30 people from the three towns of the Zhenwu Army, and newly drafted dragoons. [-] people, a total of [-] horse troops.

If you add the cooperating government soldiers, volunteers, and civilians who support the logistics, the number will be endless.

Since last year, grain, grain, grass, ordnance, gunpowder, and artillery needed by the Ming army have been transported to Henan.

After stopping for a period of time in winter, at the beginning of spring, hundreds of thousands of trackers and peasants along the canal began to transport materials from Jiangnan along the canal to Huai'an.Then more peasants, pushing wheelbarrows, driving donkey carts, mule carts, covering the road, and transported to Henan in an endless stream from morning to night.

From the south of the Yangtze River to Huai'an, it's okay, there are canals to go, but after arriving in Huai'an, they change to land, relying entirely on human and animal power, and the peasants can be said to be miserable.

Seeing the slow transportation, Wang Yan intends to dredge the Grand Canal from Kaifeng to Huai'an, restore the prosperity and transport capacity of the Henan Grand Canal in the Song Dynasty, closely connect the Central Plains with Jiangnan, and at the same time strengthen his control over Guanzhong in the future.

As soon as Wang Yan thought about it, he immediately became excited, as if he had discovered a new toy. If he could restore the Grand Canal to the capacity of Tang and Song Dynasties, it would give him a sense of accomplishment that would be no less than that of Mie Jin.

Wang Yan summoned a few cabinet ministers in the study that day. He couldn't help the excitement in his heart, put down the papers in his hand, and suddenly said to several senior scholars: "Gu Fang just read the papers from the Ministry of Households and found out what Henan needs. It only takes half a month to transport grain, grass and supplies from Jiangnan to Huai'an, and there are less than 20 civilian trackers, but it takes more than a month to travel from Huai'an to Kaifeng and Luoyang, and the labor costs are extremely high. Gu intends to dredge the canal from Kaifeng to Huai'an, what do the elders think?"

After Wang Yan finished speaking, he looked at the people expectantly. If the Grand Canal is unblocked, it will definitely be a good thing for Henan, and it will also strengthen the connection between the imperial court and the Northwest.

The faces of Chen Zilong, Du Yinxi, Su Guansheng and others sitting in the study all changed, and there was no bright look that Wang Yan expected. They seemed not to be convinced by Wang Yan's ideas and ambitions, but their faces turned gloomy.

As soon as Wang Yan finished speaking, Du Yinxi stood up suddenly, walked in front of him, and opened his mouth to spray, "Does Jian Guo think that the people of Ming Dynasty are not suffering enough? Do you want to force the people to rise up?"

Du Yinxi's body was thin, but he was full of energy. Because he was too excited, he almost roared out, spit flying straight.

Wang Yan was stunned for a while, what did I say?To be so excited, that's not enough!He stood up in a daze, "Why did the Duge Department make such a statement! No way!"

Wang Yan doesn't like Du Yinxi very much. This old man likes to demolish him the most, and fights against him everywhere. If he doesn't do well in one thing, Du Yinxi can be furious and say him for a long time.

This time Wang Yan is not going to take him out, but Du Yinxi insists on following, Wang Yan has no choice.

"Isn't it?" Du Yinxi didn't give Wang Yan any face, and said coldly: "At present, the war against gold has started, and the Jianguo has conscripted nearly a million civilians, which has affected the farming season. The people have complained for a long time, and the conflicts are more acute. To dredge the Grand Canal, isn’t it a death sentence?”

Du Yinxi didn't like Wang Yan a long time ago, the main reason is that when the lord gains power, he is a little drifting, too capable of tossing around, and he is very happy.

Du Yinxi sees that he is very good now, but he may cause chaos in the world at any time, and he will end up with a bad reputation for a long time.

Wang Yan has a high position and authority, and it is not easy to scold him for making small mistakes. Today, Du Yinxi seized the opportunity, so he naturally wanted to scold him to get rid of him as a dangerous sign.

Wang Yan was sprayed all over the face, and he also realized that dredging the canal is not appropriate now, and he lost his confidence.

Seeing this, Du Yinxi became more energetic, and did not intend to let him go, and then taught him: "Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty left such a rich family business to Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, the warehouse is full of grain, and the treasury is full of copper coins, but the number of canals to be dug I can’t afford to conquer Goguryeo. Right now, the Jin Kingdom is much stronger than Goguryeo. My Ming Dynasty has not yet destroyed the Jin Kingdom, and the Jian Kingdom wants to dredge the canal, which is going to mess up the world.”

Just when Wang Yan opened his mouth, Du Yinxi spat on him, spitting on Wang's face, and he was not given a chance to speak.

Wang Yan has a lot of problems. Although he has a good face, it's not that he doesn't listen to other people's persuasion.

After listening to Du Yinxi's scolding, he realized that he was really overjoyed at the thought of dredging the canal.That's a big project, and Ming Dynasty can't handle it now.

Du Yinxi's words made Wang Yan unable to refute, he wiped the saliva on his face with his sleeve in embarrassment, he had no choice but to laugh at Du Yinxi, "It's Gu Menglang."

Seeing Wang Yan admitting his mistake, Du Yinxi said with satisfaction, "This minister is also doing it for the good of Jian Guo and Daming. I hope Jian Guo can understand."

Wang Yan could only nod his head, showing a magnanimous and wise side, and said with a smile: "Gu De thanked Mr. Ge for reminding Gu Wang and supervising Gu Wang!"

Du Yinxi looked like a rooster who had won a fight, refreshed, he saluted slightly, and sat up again with his head held high.

Wang Yan was angry and not very happy. After talking for a while, he found an excuse to end the discussion and talk about it another day.He sent a few people back and locked himself in the study to get angry, but he obviously wouldn't give up on the matter of the canal.

(Thank you for the 500 of Youshui Yichuan, the reward of O Hell, the goalkeeper of heaven, asking for a monthly pass, recommendation, and subscription.)
(End of this chapter)