"It is a matter of millions of Ming people, and we must be cautious."

Zhu Linmiao didn't have the heart to continue inspecting the shipyard, and said to Shi Lin: "Go back to the palace." The main officials of the Cabinet, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Industry were discussed in the Wenhua Palace. ”

"Yes!"

On the way, Zhu Linmiao asked Gu Yanwu again: "Is the news of Dolgon's coming to Yangzhou true?" Do you know how many soldiers and horses he brought with him? ”

"Back to the emperor, this news is from Beijing's internal line, and it is not bad. As for the troops...... The previous Duoduo took the two yellow flags of Jianyu to Jiangnan, and there were at most 10,000 Jianzhou soldiers left in Beijing. At the moment, there was still some defense of the city, and Dolgon estimated that he could bring out seven or eight thousand men at most. ”

Zhu Linmiao turned to Zhang Jiayu again, "Counting He Luohui, Zu Runze and others who fled back to Jiangbei, how many thieves are there near Yangzhou?" ”

Zhang Jiayu thought for a moment and said: "Back to the emperor, there are more than 16,000 troops under He Luohui and others, about 3,000 defenders in Yangzhou, plus several nearby counties, at most more than 20,000. ”

Zhu Linmiao frowned and said: "With the soldiers brought by Dolgon, there should be more than 30,000 prisoners in Yangzhou, and they also have to guard against rapid camp attacks, why can they move millions of people near Yangzhou so quickly?" ”

Gu Yanwu arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, my subordinates heard that Dolgon has promoted all the officials in Yangzhou, Taizhou, Gaoyou and other places to three levels, and the officials in the counties near the left have been promoted to two levels, and they have promised heavy rewards. It is precisely these traitors who have aided in the abuse, and led the family members and the people to drive away the people, so that they have such speed. ”

For the whole of China, foreign enemies are never the biggest scourge, and the most terrible is always traitors and traitors!

An hour and a half later, the Son of Heaven's honor guard sailed into the Forbidden City.

Yang Tinglin, Song Yingxing, Zhang Canghai and other officials were already waiting outside the gate of the meeting, and when they saw that the emperor had descended from the imperial palace, they were about to kneel down and salute, but they were stopped by Zhu Linmiao, "There is no need to be polite." Then he led everyone straight into the Wenhua Palace.

After more than 20 important ministers stood still in the hall, Zhu Linmiao signaled to Gu Yanwu, "Lord Gu, first tell you about the situation in Jiangbei." ”

"My subordinates obey."

Gu Yanwu then fled Shunzhi to the north, Dolgon led his troops to the south to sit in the town, and Jianyu drove away the people from Yangzhou to the Huai River, burned all the villages, fertile fields, trees, and destroyed roads.

Yang Tinglin immediately continued: "Your Majesty, Jianyu is planning to fortify the wall and clear the wilderness in order to delay our army's Northern Expedition!" ”

Although he is not good at fighting, he has led soldiers and is quite expert in this. Several members of the military department next to him also nodded, "It's winter, and if the army can't even find firewood for burning on the way north, I'm afraid it's ......."

"The thieves are very vicious, and even the roads have been destroyed, so our army is gritting its teeth to transport baggage from Jiangnan, and I am afraid it will be extremely slow."

"Yes, it is extremely difficult to transport grain and grass, and the nearby villages have been burned, so it is impossible to collect grain nearby."

"There are three or four hundred miles from the Yangtze River to the Huai River, and if there is scorched earth along the way, how can you use troops ......?"

Zhu Linmiao knew that even in the later life, it would be very difficult to safely travel through hundreds of miles of barren land, let alone the technical ability of the next generation. When there are no people in the vicinity and there are no roads, just transporting grain can be a huge headache.

You must know that in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, because of the sparse population and poor roads, each soldier needed at least seven or eight people to carry grain and grass behind him.

The "artificial" Chidi from Yangzhou to the Huai River may be even more staggering in terms of logistical pressure.

He frowned and said, "It seems that the grain and grass needed for the Northern Expedition are twice as much. ”

Everyone was discussing anxiously, and they saw Ma Wensheng holding a booklet with a red label and walking quickly into the hall, bowing to Zhu Linmiao and saying, "Long live Lord, the Ministry of War just sent someone urgent." ”

Why is it an urgent report? Zhu Linmiao took the booklet and opened it, first showing a slight face, and then immediately sinking his face. After reading the last line, he handed the urgent report to Zhang Jiayu beside him, "It seems that Jianyu is going to fight to the death of a fish this time." ”

The ministers of the palace surrounded Zhang Jiayu, looked at the booklet in his hand, and someone read it out in a low voice, "Wang Yingxiong, the governor of Sichuan...... The 40,000 main forces of the Haoge Department have withdrawn from Hanzhong, leaving only the 7,000 green battalions of Dou Chengwu's Department to guard Xi'an...... Before the thieves fled, they drove the people of Fengxiang Mansion, Xi'an Mansion and other places east into Shanxi, and burned the two mansions to the ground, leaving them barren for thousands of miles...... The minister has led his troops to recover Hanzhong, however, it was a harsh winter, and the Shaanxi border was full of red land, and the army was difficult to sustain. Only after spring to gather grain and grass and transfer the people of Sichuan to the north to repair the road, can we overcome the whole of Shaanxi in one fell swoop and enter Shanxi ......"

Suddenly, there was silence in the Wenhua Palace, obviously Jianyu was going to recklessly block the Ming army from going north.

After a while, Ying Tianxiang took the lead and said: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid that Haoge's 40,000 horses are also going to the Huai River for reinforcements." ”

Someone answered: "More than 60,000 thieves are defending the Huai River, but it is not easy for our army to break through quickly." ”

"It seems that we can only wait for the weather to get warmer, and then slowly figure it out."

"Yes, the thief is like a cicada in winter, but there is no need to rush ......"

Zhu Linmiao shook his head resolutely and said, "No! Millions of people who were driven to Shanxi and Huaibei by Jianyu have all left their hometowns and must not have much savings, and Jianyu is now in a state of embarrassment, and he will definitely not do his best to stop it. At that time, I am afraid that hundreds of thousands or even millions of people will starve to death and freeze to death, but these are all our Ming people! ”

There was silence in the hall again.