The Longjiangkou wharf in the outer city of Nanjing, countless boats and boats are laid on the course of the Qinhuai River, these are not merchant ships transporting grain and goods, but carrying the Northern Expeditionary Army and countless heavy grain and grass along the Yangtze River Canal, all the way north.

At the meeting of the two governments in front of the emperor that day, Qian Qianyi's "asking for the guilt of the people of Datong" made Emperor Hongxing, who was still a little hesitant, make up his mind to launch the Northern Expedition in advance.

The blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people who were slaughtered in Datong City could not be shed in vain, and they held back the Qing soldiers for three or four years for the Ming Dynasty, so Emperor Zhu had the responsibility to seek justice for them. As for whether or not to kill Dolgon, it is a matter of ability, and whether to fight this battle is a matter of attitude.

If Emperor Zhu really had no spare strength, he would not fight this battle for political correctness. But now the situation in Nanming is good, and it can fully support a real Northern Expedition, if you don't fight, it's really a bit too much.

Therefore, on the day of the Qixi Festival in the twentieth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cihong officially promulgated the edict of the Northern Expedition to conquer the prisoners, and in the edict, it was clear that he wanted to seek justice for the soldiers and civilians who died in Datong, that is, to ask Dolgon for the crime of treachery and indiscriminate killing of innocents!

And the preparations for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains actually began long ago...... Even if there is no massacre of Datong, Zhu Cihong will be in trouble in the winter of twenty years!

The model army of the two divisions, as well as a large amount of rice, grain, hay and other materials, were transported to Dengzhou by sea boat before the end of the southeast monsoon in the summer of 20 years. One of the divisions (the 1st Division) secretly landed on Juehua Island in mid-June.

In addition, Xu Haijiedu made Gao Jie join the cross-sea expedition because he had a festival with Huang Degong and Shi Kefa. Before the end of June, he also led an army of 14,000 selected from Xu's navy to the north by sea, and now he is also stationed in Dengzhou.

If you add the officers and soldiers under the jurisdiction of the Beiyang Naval Division, the Dongjiang Town General Soldier Yamen, the Shandong General Army Yamen and the Denglai Governor Yamen, the total strength of the Ming Army on the North Road is as much as more than 70,000 people!

Once the landing in Liaodong and Liaoxi is successful, it is really enough for the Qing Emperor Amadorgon to drink a pot.

The Southern Route Army of the Northern Expedition was dominated by Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, Zhu Yihai in Shandong, and Huang Degong's headquarters in Huaibei. They also went all out to prepare for this Northern Expedition for many months.

Among them, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Huang Degong also became "debt marshals" for this reason, because the subsidies given to them by Zhu Cihong were not enough, so they all borrowed money from the Haishang Bank and the Yanshang Bank, purchased a batch of guns and artillery, and built a lot of chariots with partial compartments.

The current "North Six Towns" (that is, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, Zhu Yihai, Gao Jie, and Huang Degong) The Ming army adopted two different military systems.

One is that Zhu Cihong introduced the Western military system, and the armies of Gao Jie and Huang Degong both learned the method of the model army, mixing pikemen and musketeers, and using a square camp of about 500 people as the basic combat unit.

The other is Qi Jiguang's car battalion, and the four towns of Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai have all chosen this military system.

However, they did not copy it exactly, but improved it according to the actual situation, canceled the configuration of the Fran cannon car and rocket car, and did not have a palladium hand. Instead, spears, bows and arrows, bird guns, knives and other types of troops are used to cooperate with the van car, and at the same time, some light general cannons (one-pound cannons) are equipped.

When engaging the enemy, the partial vans can be connected to form a car formation in the first circle, with artillery and firearms, which is enough to resist the iron cavalry of the Qing army. However, this kind of car battalion has poor mobility, can only take the main road, and the travel speed is slow, so it can only be steady.

At present, the four towns of Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, and Zhu Yihai have all been organized into three to five car battalions, and each battalion is fully staffed with 31,200 people, and the four towns can pull out a total of 16 car battalions, with a total strength of 50,000 people. plus the twenty battalions of Huang Degong's department, as well as some auxiliary cavalry. Not counting the army and civilians, you can gather 70,000 troops along the way north of the canal!

And today will leave Nanjing by water, the Northern Expedition army led by Emperor Hongxing himself, including two infantry divisions, two cavalry regiments, two artillery regiments, and Zhu Cihong's guard battalion, about 35,000 people—according to the plan, these two divisions will depend on the progress of the Northern Expedition in the south and north, and then decide where to march?

If the two Northern Expedition armies went well, they would successfully attract the main forces of the Qing army to the battlefields of western Liaoning and Shandong. Then Zhu Cihong will personally lead these two divisions to land at Dagukou, march along the Weihe River and the Grand Canal in Tianjin, and go to raid Dolgon's lair.

If the two Northern Expeditionary armies, especially the Southern Route Army, do not progress well, then Zhu Cihong will lead these two divisions to reinforce them.

In the area of Nanyang and Xiangyang, the area of Fengyang Mansion and the territory of Yingtianfu, there was also a model army of a division, which was to prevent Zhang Xianzhong or the Qing army from entering the hinterland of the Southern Ming Dynasty in a big way - Zhang Xianzhong may be forced to the territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty by the Qing army, and Dolgon may also sacrifice the trick of encircling Wei to save Zhao, and use the mobility of the Qing army to suddenly Huainan to force the Ming army to return to help. So Zhu Cihong had to take precautions.

These three divisions also assume the role of reserves, especially the two divisions deployed in Fengyang Mansion and Yingtianfu can go north by water at any time to reinforce the Northern Expeditionary Army.

The officers and men of the Guards Division and the Rear Army Division of the New Army today all changed into brand-new red arrow suits and slatted iron armor, equipped with sharp spears and firearms, and pulled bronze cannons under the banner of Tuen Xin. The whole team set off from Dajiaochang in the east of the outer city of Nanjing, then went up to the city wall of the inner city of Nanjing from the Zhengyangmen horse road, and then marched along the city wall to the Yifengmen Urn City and Yifengmen Street, which are close to the Longjiang Wharf.

Before the time for boarding the ship arrived, 30,000 officers and men enjoyed their last meal before the expedition on the streets and in the urn city. These meals were not prepared by the men who accompanied the army, but were pulled directly from the palace, and they were nominally "given food" by the queen mother and the palace people. In fact, it is an ordinary white-flour steamed bun with salted pork and two boiled grass eggs, and everyone can also get a small half pot of rice wine.

And this queen mother is Wu Sanmei!

Wu Sangui's defection conditions were added together with Dolgon's crime of Tu Datong, which could be regarded as an end to the ranking battle in Zhu Cihong's harem. Dong Gege was directly out, and even the imperial concubine was not qualified to be a concubine. Although Zheng Chagu was pregnant again, because Wu Sangui was too important, she could only be wronged to be second in the harem.

Wu Sanmei was successfully promoted, and the mother of the world was officially sealed on July 15 of the twentieth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty.

Suddenly, west of the urn city of Yifengmen, the military dependents of Beifu who came to see off their soldiers suddenly cheered, from far to near, and the cheers became higher and higher. Then I saw hundreds of plate knights guarding the pro-army, surrounded by a few people. The people who came were none other than Emperor Hongxing, Empress Wu, Emperor Zheng's concubine, Concubine Ning, and Concubine Fei. Emperor Hongxing and Empress Wu both rode horses and walked side by side. The pregnant Imperial Concubine Cheng walked behind the Emperor and Empress in a Western-style four-wheeled carriage paid tribute by the Macau Council. Ning Xiangyu and Fei Zhen'e shared a two-wheeled carriage and walked last.

Zhu Cihong was dressed in military uniform, with armor and high spirits, and while moving forward, he explained something to Queen Wu.

“...... Third sister, the seal of regency will be handed over to you. After I leave, you have full authority to handle the affairs of Beijing, and the Guozhang, Shoufu and Emperor Zheng will all stay in Beijing to assist you. If there is anything that cannot be decided, send 600 miles to the front of the army urgently. Aunt Cha is pregnant, so you have to take care of it. Xiangyu and Zhen'e are all on the expedition with me, and you can rest assured that they will take care of my diet and daily life. In addition, on the emperor's side, you should also pay more attention! ”

When Zhu Cihong spoke, the group had already entered the Yifengmen Urn City, and the soldiers of the army who had just finished lunch shouted in unison, long live, and the sound was like waves, wave after wave of rows hitting the hearts of all the people in Nanjing City.

With such a high-morale male soldier, this time the Northern Expedition should be nine out of ten, right?

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