Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 807
The Ming army in the pier was killed by the flag Ding, and blood flowed out, gathering at the unextinguished fire in the middle, accompanied by the disgusting smell, and the sizzling sound from time to time.

The bannermen groped around the corpses of the Ming soldiers who had died in battle, but all they found were some copper coins, not even a little bit of silver.

These coins are worthless, and it is definitely a burden to carry them. If the bannermen would have dismissed them before, but they are all carrying them in their bosoms today.

No matter how small a sesame seed is, it is food. The Ming army has become more and more difficult to deal with in recent years. There were only twelve people on this pier, but four Qing soldiers died. This was unimaginable before, so they first took the copper coins Take it, it's not too late to throw away the silver and gold, if you don't grab it, it's not a waste of money.

The banner men searched, not only the Ming army, but also their own people. It can be seen that the food shortage in Beijing made them feel a deep sense of crisis.

When Qi Ding touched the corpses, Qi Ding's leader held a bloody saber and stabbed the Ming army's corpses one by one to ensure that they were all dead.

At this time, outside the pier, the main force of the banner army had already begun to pass by. A member of the army passed by, cursed loudly in Manchu, and then beat his horse and left.

The leader of the flag Ding inside the pier, holding a knife, lowered his head, and when Jia La's forehead really passed, he looked at his subordinates with an angry face, and then yelled and cursed.

All the flagmen waited for him to finish cursing, and immediately rushed out of the pier, and the corpses were not cleaned up, so they joined the army and hurried south together.

With the beacon fire, if the villagers in the south get the news and run away, what are they going to grab?Only by robbing big households can there be money, food, and women.

The piers to the north of Maluo Town are just a small part of the defense line of the Huaihe River.

The entry of the Qing army into the bandits this time is different from the previous battles of the Qing army after entering the customs.

After the Qing army entered the customs, the previous battles fought were all aimed at occupying and destroying the Ming Dynasty, but this time it was completely different.

The goal of the Qing army this time was pure looting, and they did not require any cities to be commanded, nor did they require defeating the Ming army, as long as they grabbed something, they achieved their goal.

The Qing army divided into several groups. After crossing the Huaihe River, they spread out in Niulu as a unit in Jiangbei, avoiding big cities, sweeping the countryside, and not entering the hills. Eat it, and when you meet an evenly matched enemy, you will call other Qing troops nearby to fight for food, gather together, and then attack.

At the end of November, wars were everywhere in the north of the Yangtze River. King Lu's army was stronger than the naval division, weaker than the land division, and there were basically no cavalry. Zhang Mingzhen had no power to parry, so he could only defend Huai'an, Nantong, Rugao, Taizhou and other counties, giving up all the village wild.

On the Yangtze River, along the river from Chongming to Zhenjiang, countless urgent beacon fires rose into the sky in the north, and black smoke shot straight into the sky. From north to south, piers and towers were lit one by one, spreading the news to Nanjing.

It seems to be like a race against the flames. In the hilly area near the Yangtze River in the north of the Yangtze River, refugees all over the mountains and plains, helping the old and the young, are walking towards the river. Behind them, there are urgent beacon smoke and burning villages.

Many people were crying while walking forward. The faces and eyes of children and old people were full of panic, helplessness and despair.

There were already warships on the Yangtze River to pick up the first batch of refugees to cross the river, and Zhang Huangyan was also sent by the imperial court to Suzhou to appease the refugees.

At this time, he was standing by the river, with tents set up behind him and a stove ready to cook porridge.

Nanjing, in the lobby of the five-army governor's mansion, there is a huge sand table in the middle, on which are the mountains, rivers, cities and rivers of China, all of which are marked one by one. , have certain labels.

These military arrangements were all the result of spy investigations from the Tiandihui and the bribery of officials belonging to the Qing court and Hauge.

At this time, around the sand table, a group of generals of the Ming army and senior members of the Ministry of War were standing.

Standing aside, Wang Yan listened to a Lang officer of the Ministry of War pointing to the location of Jiangbei on the sand table and said: "Combining the beacon smoke in Jiangbei and the military report of Dudu Zhang, there should be 2 Qing troops crossing the Huaihe River, and all of them were cavalry. , the known ones are pure white, bordered white,

There are also some Mongolian Eight Banners and other troops. They are divided into several groups in the north of the Yangtze River, and they are sometimes scattered. "

Now the weather is cold, many rivers and creeks in Jiangbei are frozen, it is difficult for the Ming army to use the densely intertwined river network to attack the Qing cavalry, and the troops of King Lu are not very capable of land warfare. Now the Qing army is in Jiangbei Looting wantonly, tens of thousands of King Lu's army could only hide in the city as a coward, and the Qing army generally did not attack cities heavily defended by the King of Lu's army, but only focused on robbery.

Judging from the situation in the world, Wang Yan can judge that this attack is basically a flashback of the Qing army. As long as he does not make any mistakes or make any mistakes and survive this wave of attacks from the Qing army, he should take the initiative in the future. Beating up Dorgon is causing trouble for the Qing court.

Wang Yan looked at Jiangbei. He was already rotten and his heart was a little heavy. He suddenly turned his head to look at Huguang and asked, "How is the situation in Henan?"

Chen Bangyan took the stick from his subordinate Lang Guan, bowed to Wang Yan, and said: "According to the information from the Tiandihui, Azig did not appear in Jiangbei, but went to Henan."

The location of Guangnan is too remote. Huguang is the ancient Jingzhou, known as the belly of the world, and it is the headquarters of the Chu Party, which is very important.

Everyone looked at Chen Bangyan, and heard him continue: "Your Highness, according to the analysis of the Ministry of War, the main target of the Qing army this time should be Huguang, not Jiangbei. Jiangbei has been in constant wars since Xie Qian entered the Huaihe River and Huaihe River. If you are not rich, you still need Zhejiang to lose money and food. The Qing army came here in large numbers, not just for the three melons and two dates in the counties in the north of the Yangtze River. Huguang is different, the world’s granary, and there has been no war for more than a year, the folks Sufficient food and plenty of money, this is the goal of the Qing army.”

Wang Yan nodded, this was also his concern, "Gu also suspects that the Qing army's big move in Jiangbei is to attract the attention of the imperial court. Jiangbei is too close to Nanjing, and they want to make Jiangnan feel the pressure , forcing us to strengthen the defenses in the south of the Yangtze River and weaken the troops in Huguang."

"His Royal Highness's analysis coincides with that of the Ministry of War." Chen Bangyan said: "There is news from the north that the price of grain in Beijing has risen to 20 taels, and it is still soaring. If they don't rob Huguang, they won't be able to survive next year's summer harvest."

Wang Yan pondered for a while, "Now that the purpose of the Qing army has been preliminarily analyzed, do you have any countermeasures?"

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(End of this chapter)