In only a quarter of an hour, dozens of light boats with the fastest speed had reached the north bank of the Huai River.

The soldiers of the Dragon Guard in the vanguard removed half-man-high wooden shields wrapped in iron sheets from the boats, erected a neat row on the river embankment, and then fired a volley at the fortifications from behind the "shield wall".

On a sandboat that followed, ten No. 1 Franc cannons were dragged out by the gunners and joined in the suppressive salvo.

When the first group of landing soldiers had all landed, they set up a beachhead in the open space in front of the embankment and the Jianyu defense line with great efficiency, and nearly 30 Furlong cannons and more than 4,000 rifled guns were pouring ammunition at the Jianqing.

At the same time, more than 800 Dragon Guard soldiers in charge of capturing the city wore half-body plate armor and ran with ladders to approach the first earthen wall in front of the ferry.

In a matter of moments, dozens of ladders were built on the four-zhang high wall.

With the three red signal flares rising into the air, these 800 warriors flew up to the ladder, and their skills were extremely vigorous, and more than ten ups and downs hit the earthen wall.

Then they squatted down skilfully, raised their guns and took aim, and fired a volley in all directions.

When the soldiers quickly finished loading, they did not hear the officer's order to shoot again. They looked up in confusion, only to find that the earthen wall was empty!

"There's an ambush!"

Huang Qishou, who was in charge of the command of the assault, shrank in his heart, and immediately shouted, "The five battalions are covered, and the others retreat in an orderly manner."

"Summons, let the battalions below the city keep an eye on the two wings, and beware of ambushes!"

"Yes!"

When Liu Chang took the second group of Ming troops to the north bank of the Huai River, he was even stunned - the narrow earthen wall in front of him was full of blue Ming army flags, and from time to time there were soldiers of the Dragon Guard Army escorting groups of prisoners to pass by.

He saw Huang Qishou's command flag from a distance, ran over quickly, and said suspiciously: "You, are you done?" ”

"It's over." Huang Qishou was excited, "More than 7,000 were captured, and thousands more fled in the northwest direction." Damn, as soon as the cannon went off, all these unplanted ones shrank under the breastwork and didn't dare to move. A company of the second battalion went up and captured more than 700 people. ”

……

At the time of the Shen Dynasty, the Ming army completely controlled both sides of the Huai River.

At this time, a gap had been dug in the middle of the two earthen walls built by Dolgon, and the imperial chariot was surrounded by the imperial camp and headed towards Muyang City.

"So, isn't it Dorgon's main force?" Zhu Linmiao looked at Zhang Jiayu and said.

"Back to Your Majesty, after the prisoners confessed, most of them were traitors who helped the captives to abuse and drive away the people of Yangzhou." Zhang Jiayu arched his hand and said, "A few days ago, I was incorporated into the green camp by Dolgon, changed my clothes, and rushed to guard the two earthen walls.

"And the main force of the thieves began to leave one after another eight or nine days ago, and the last team of more than 25,000 people left four days ago. All the grain, grass, weapons, baggage, and the like were not left. ”

"Will Dolgon give up the Huai River?" Zhu Linmiao was very surprised, "Could it be some trickery?" ”

He never thought at this time that after the defeat of Duoduo's 150,000 army, Jianyu was already a soldier.

Although the troops he threw in Liaodong, Xuzhou, Shanxi and other places were not many, Dolgon did not dare to be careless anywhere, so he could only divide his troops to resist, and the remaining troops could not guarantee that he could hold the Huai River.

In addition, he has just cleaned up Hauge, but he has not yet fully controlled his subordinates, which is a big variable for him to defend the Huai River.

If he loses again on the Huai River, he will lose even the last bit of his family, so that there will be no troops to defend from Shandong to Beijing and even Liaodong. The Ming army ran north, and at the end of March, it was able to hold a celebration banquet in Shengjing.

Therefore, Dolgon weighed it again and again and decided to retain his strength, first retreat to Beijing to set up defenses, and at the same time digest Hauge's blue flag as soon as possible. So he used a trick to select more than 10,000 people from those traitors, and gave them some silver taels to let them fill the front line of the Huai River.

Zhang Jiayu said: "Your Majesty, I will confess to the prisoners, and one of the first thieves to leave is going west." The last general thought that when General Li led a swift battalion to break through Xuzhou, these people should have gone to intercept General Li, but there were more than 10,000 people. ”

Zhu Linmiao was even more clueless, to say that Dolgon sent troops to block Xuzhou, it was said that he was worried that the Huai River defense line would be disturbed, and then retreated?

He discussed with Zhang Jiayu for a while, but he still couldn't determine the intention of Jianyu, so he had to order: "Let Zhao Shichao lead three thousand hussars to the north to investigate, and you must be careful of the thieves and ambushes!"

"The army is repairing in Muyang for a day, if Zhao Shichao doesn't find anything unusual, the main force will then go north and take Yizhou first."

After crossing the Huai River, attack Yizhou-Yidu-Jinan-Changlu and Zhigu, which was the route of Zhu Yuanzhang's Northern Expedition.

Although hundreds of years have passed, the overall topography of Shandong has not changed much, and this is still the most reasonable order of marching, and Zhu Linmiao directly copied it.

After capturing Zhigu, continue to the north to Tongzhou, and reach the city of Beijing!

Zhang Jiayu immediately saluted: "Yes!" The last general then went to give the order. ”

Zhu Linmiao said again: "Also, contact Li Dingguo as soon as possible, let him go north as quickly as possible, do not seek to conquer the city, as long as he can go deep into the hinterland of Jianyu, he can disrupt Dolgon's deployment." Since Dorgon had sent 10,000 horses to follow him, it would be better to take them around in a few more circles.

"Jiang Jian told him not to be greedy for merit, the Jianyu garrison in Beijing is not something he can deal with. If he is defeated, it will only restore the morale of Jianlu.

"Let him hurry west, join Wang Yingxiong as soon as possible, and then turn around and eat the fifteen thousand thieves who came against him."

Jiang Jian was originally an old-style warlord, and the rebel army that he had temporarily assembled under his command could not have any combat effectiveness, although he had received a lot of weapons supported by the imperial court, Zhu Linmiao didn't expect them to wrestle with the regular army of Jianyu. The biggest thing this person can do is to attract Dolgon's attention.

"Yes!"

When the imperial chariot drove out again, Zhu Linmiao vaguely heard a whimper around him, and there were soldiers in front of him who scolded in a deep voice, "Stay away!" This is a holy car! ”

Zhu Linmiao frowned and stopped, pushed the car door and looked out, and immediately felt a shock in his heart!

On both sides of the road were hungry people in rags, most of whom were too hungry to stand up, and fell to the ground and whispered a few times from time to time. The number of people stretched for more than ten miles.

It was barely too far to see a corpse, some of which had even revealed their bones, emitting a desperate smell.

Zhu Linmiao knew that in this early spring, even a month would not turn the corpse into dry bones, and most of these white bones were cut off as rations.

On the vast ground around it, a pair of hands as thin as ghost's claws, a pair of lifeless eyes, and the wails of a large number of dying people made this place like a hell.

Some people who can still get up heard the word "holy drive", and they hurriedly struggled to lean over and kneel on the ground, begging bitterly, "Ask the Son of Heaven for mercy and open a warehouse for relief......"

"Erlang is the true monarch of the saints, saving me is equal to suffering......"

"Ask the emperor to reward some grain and rice, my child hasn't eaten for four days......"

"The Son of Heaven is gracious......"