Finally, Zhu Si said: "Zhongqing, although I have been thinking about the current war situation for many days, this war is about the safety of Daming Sheji and the future of the people in the world. It is not to be careless, so to describe the current situation in this way, because the current posture and layout of the Qing army are everywhere in the posture of a decisive battle with our army. In fact, I can wait a little longer and continue to let Li Yuanyin's men and horses cross the mountains and seas, attack the Beijing Division, and occupy Liaodong. It is hoped that the Qing army will be in chaos and reveal its original form. Sincerely, this is the best policy, because in this way, our army can also send multiple divisions to bypass the enemy's main army that is preparing for a decisive battle with us, intersperse behind enemy lines, and turn the enemy upside down in the rear. The main force of our army took advantage of the chaos to clean up the Qing army one by one. But my instincts told me that sometimes a decisive battle should be tried, if it could have been avoided. It is better to smash the enemy's altars and jars than to smash the enemy's head. If we choose a decisive battle, then what is the goal of the campaign? I thought that the primary target should be Xuzhou, but the battlefield should never be limited to Xuzhou. If we want to destroy Dorgon's long-awaited plan for a decisive battle, we will have to carry out a net-breaking operation against him. ”

Everyone's expressions were solemn, and Zhu Si led everyone to start to observe the sand table again, and said: "If we want to cut off the north-south communication of the Qing army by taking Xuzhou, then the goal is wrong in the first place. Because the goal of the Qing army has always been not transportation, but has always been our vital force. As long as he destroys the main force of our army, then he can still take all the lost land. Therefore, the enemy chose to garrison Xuzhou and Yizhou, all of them were sprinkling bait, and if they wanted to defend the canal to ensure traffic, then they would also defend Huai'an and Pizhou. Huai'an controls the canal from north to south, and controls the Huai River from east to west. Pizhou is the control of the two canals of the old and new canals, the Luo River and Surabaya, and guards the throat of the canal. However, after the Qing army was occupied by our army in the south of the Yangtze River, it was no longer able to rely on the canal to transport materials to Beijing. Although there is already a shortage of materials in Beijing, as long as they can still ensure the supply of the army, these Dolgon can be left alone for the time being. Although they were also afraid that our army would rely on the canal to go north in the future, they were even more afraid that the defenders in Pizhou and Huai'an would be completely annihilated by our army. In the face of millions of our Ming army of water and land, they can't hold Huai'an and Pizhou at all. However, they may really be able to hold on to Xuzhou, because Xuzhou is connected to the old canal in the north, and the old canal is alternated between spring and winter and summer and autumn of the new channel of the Luhe Canal. There are also rapids and rapids of Xuzhou Sanhong, which hinders our sailors from going upstream, cutting off the way for the Xuzhou defenders to retreat north. If it can't cross Xuzhou, our army's naval division can only stay in the lower reaches of Surabaya to the east of it. After taking Xuzhou, our army could not only use the water division to transport supplies, but also cut off the waterway of the Yellow River and restrict the Qing army on the south bank, so as to deploy the main force of our army under Kaifeng and Luoyang. ”

Zhu Si was making the final summary of the discussion just now, but the more he summarized, the more entangled everyone became, and the situation that seemed to be clear just now was said by Zhu Si in a fog. Hao Yongzhong shook his head and said: "It's really getting more and more confused, long live first said that Xuzhou was going to take Xuzhou, and then said that Xuzhou was just the bait of the Qing army, and it was no longer important to them, so why should we take Xuzhou?" ”

Ma Jinzhong said with a smile: "I think Wan Sui Ye said this because he wanted us to believe that we wanted to take Xuzhou, but to take Xuzhou was just a cover for our actions." For friends and enemies, in fact, Xuzhou is just a pretense. The Qing army is casting a net and waiting, and our army has already sent Gao Bizheng and Wang Jincai, Wang Yuncai, and Jiao Lian to launch an operation. ”

Hao Yongzhong asked again: "If Xuzhou is just a cover for our army, then whether to fight or not." If so, how should this battle be fought? Ma Jinzhong's triangular eyes exuded essence, and he said substantially: "I guess Long Live Lord's thoughts will definitely exceed everyone's expectations, right, Long Live Lord?" Old friends who have cooperated tacitly for many years will always be the first to guess Zhu Si's thoughts, and Zhu Si asked Ma Jinzhong rhetorically: "Then tell me how I was unexpected." Ma Jinzhong shook his head and said: "Since it is unexpected, it will definitely not be guessed." The minister can't guess, let alone Dolgon, he will ...... when he waits at home" Ma Jinzhong suddenly said in shock: "Long live Lord, no, do you really want to do that?" ”

Ma Jinzhong must have guessed what Zhu Si wanted to do, so he was very surprised, and Zhu Si showed a harmless smile and said: "If we can guarantee that we will not be cut off by the Qing army, then why can't we do it?" If our army is secured, then even if the two armies fight in the field, the Qing army will not have more chances to win in the face of our superior forces. The Qing army thought that if it was held in Xuzhou, our army would not advance westward through the Yellow River, and attacked Kaifeng and Luoyang with the east and west armies of Li Dingguo's department in Tongguan. He never thought that if Kaifeng and Luoyang were lost, they would also lose all the areas controlled south of the Yellow River. Dorgon loves fishing, but he doesn't know that he's the only angler I want to eat. ”

Zhu Si's words shocked the four seats, and no one believed that this sentence was Zhu Si's real battle goal. Zhu Si said again: "Who said that I would only move westward after taking Xuzhou?" I went the other way and attacked Dorgon's main force by land. Dolgon thought that his three defensive cores south of the Yellow River, Luoyang, Kaifeng, and Xuzhou, were impregnable fortresses, but he forgot that they seemed to be able to support each other, but in fact they were too far apart. Our army can take advantage of the distance between the three defensive cores of the Qing army to fight the time difference with the Qing army. We first consolidated the encirclement of Xuzhou on the east, west and south, and trapped Xuzhou. Then lead the main army west into the Central Plains, divide the Qing army in Xuzhou from the three defense points south of the Yellow River of the Qing army, and then choose a good battlefield and wait for Dolgon to come to the door by himself. In order to achieve this strategic goal, we must first capture Dangshan County, Feng County, Pei County, and Xiao County under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou to the west of Xuzhou, as well as Xiayi County, Yucheng County, and Yongcheng County under the jurisdiction of Guide Prefecture in Henan Province or east of Guide Prefecture, as well as the Yellow River crossing 'Dingjia Daokou' in Guide. The attacks of Henan and Nanzhili need to be launched at the same time, and it is difficult to judge the campaign goal of our army when fighting Dorgon, and once the goal of our army is clear, it will be difficult for Dolgon to break the game! ”

(End of chapter)