Early the next morning.

Zhu Linmi, surrounded by the imperial camp, entered Yangzhou City from the north gate.

He looked around, and although the streets were deserted and desolate, the buildings were largely preserved.

Zhang Jiayu followed the saint's side, saw the saint's expression, and hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, according to the prisoner's confession, the thief wanted to set fire to the city before evacuating, but he didn't have time to do it because the city was broken too quickly, but fortunately. ”

Zhu Linmiao nodded slightly when he heard this, Yangzhou Mansion was too badly damaged, and with the seed of Yangzhou City, with this as the core in the future, there was hope for reconstruction.

Zhang Jiayu continued: "Your Majesty, the captured officer also mentioned that Dolgon originally wanted to hold on to Ebai for a month. Nearly 10,000 stones of grain and rice were found in the two granaries in the city, and they were safe and sound. ”

"Give it to the people of the city." Zhu Linmiao instructed, "The army will repair in the city for half a day, and then immediately continue north." ”

Since the intensity of yesterday's battle was so low, even the daily training of the Dragon Guard was not as good, so it was enough to trim it a little.

Speaking of the entry into the army, Zhu Linmiao asked again: "By the way, where is the supply line now?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the news sent last night that a camp has been built to the south of Baoying, and grain and grass are being transported there."

"Baoying?" Zhu Linmiao said cautiously, "This place is only seventy or eighty miles away from the Huai River, so I must beware of thieves attacking my grain and grass." ”

Zhang Jiayu hurriedly responded: "The last general will remember." In fact, the front team had a swift battalion led by General Li, and three dragoon companies to support them. In the end, more men will be sent. ”

"How's the situation on the thief's side?"

"Back to Your Majesty, it is reported that more than 100,000 people gathered in Shanyang, Suzui and other places on the south bank of the Huai River. The thieves, who had few boats and boats, drove them across the river day and night. ”

Zhu Linmiao couldn't help but put away the reins of the horse and looked back at Zhang Jiayu, "Since Li Dingguo and they are only seventy or eighty miles away from these people, they should go to help." ”

Zhang Jiayu was a little embarrassed: "Your Majesty, there are still more than 4,000 thieves on the south bank of the Huai River. General Li has only 1,000 men and horses under him for the time being, and he is also responsible for guarding the grain and grass ......"

Because the supply line has not yet been completely laid, the forward can only maintain the scale of 14500 people for the time being, which is already a bit difficult.

Zhu Linmiao smiled and shook his head, "It doesn't take many people, four hundred people are enough." ”

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's hard to ...... four hundred people."

"Yuanzi forgot, there are still more than 100,000 Ming people there!" Zhu Linmiao said, "Pass the order, let the Propaganda Department quickly send the response officer to Shanyang and other places." Also, some of the best weapons seized yesterday will be sent with them. ”

Zhang Jiayu's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hurriedly saluted: "Yes!" ”

Soon, the imperial camp traveled to the Yangzhou Mansion, where the slightest artillery fire was encountered, and Zhang Jiayu chose this place to let the Son of Heaven rest.

Zhu Linmiao seized the time to summon a group of officers, held a simple staff meeting, and sorted out the specific arrangements for the main force of the Liming Army to go north.

"The artillery battalion is too slow." Zhu Linmiao knocked on the map and said, "Allocate more people to the artillery battalion, don't miss the decisive battle because they miss ......."

As he was talking, Shi Lin walked into the house quickly, presented a lacquered letter, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Beizhen has just been sent from the north bank. ”

Zhu Linmiao opened it and saw that it was a secret report sent by Jinyiwei.

He only looked at two lines, and he couldn't help frowning slightly, "Jinyi Wei reported that Haoge's department has arrived in Pei County, and there are about 40,000 soldiers and horses. Dolgon had two earthen walls built at the crossing of the Huai River, more than four feet high, and placed a large number of cannons side by side. ”

All the generals present had solemn expressions. Although they were confident that they would not have a problem defeating Dorgon's 60,000 captives head-on, the Huai River was dangerous, and with the fortifications and artillery, they did not know how much time it would take and how many soldiers would be killed and wounded before they could capture it.

There was silence in the tent.

After a while, Huang Qishou broke the silence and said in a rough voice: "Isn't it just a river?" The last general is willing to lead his troops to be the first to attack! ”

His words provoked a chorus, "Yes! When have we ever been afraid of a thief?! ”

"Let this boy know that Dolgon!"

Zhu Linmiao looked at the location of the upper reaches of the Huai River on the map, and muttered: "We may be able to bypass the Huai River and attack the enemy from Xuzhou to the north." ”

Zhang Jiayu immediately said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Xuzhou is nearly six hundred miles away from here, and it is still three hundred miles away from Shanyang. Now that the roads and cottages along the way have been destroyed, if the army goes, it will not only take time, but also difficult to transport grain, grass and baggage. ”

Zhu Linmiao narrowed her eyes, "What if you only transfer a thousand people?" Send a thousand swift battalions. ”

Zhang Jiayu thought about it, but still shook his head, "I'm afraid that the forage is not enough......"

In order to block the Ming army, the south bank of the Huai River was cleared of the wilderness, and it was the end of winter, in this case, the horses had nowhere to find grass to eat. As a result, compared to the soldiers' rations, the amount of forage required by the horses was ten times heavier.

In fact, as far as the supply line of the Ming army's northern expedition is concerned, a large part of the transportation force is consumed on 15,000 war horses - in order to reduce the pressure of forage transportation, a large number of Ming infantry had to abandon their horses and walk.

Zhu Linmiao was unwilling to give up, "Each person has four horses, rations are carried with them, and three horses carry bean cakes and bran as horse feed." ”

All the generals were stunned, and someone said carefully: "Your Majesty, this will definitely be able to bypass Xuzhou." However, this kind of operation is extremely costly, only a thousand people, and I am afraid that it is of limited use. ”

"No," Zhu Linmiao said categorically, "it is definitely worth it to intersperse and pull and break through the depth of the enemy." He looked around and smiled, "Jianyu is now shrinking on the north bank of the Huai River, and he does not hesitate to destroy Yangzhou and other places, in order to delay time and wait for a breath of relief." But it also shows that they are already all soldiers, and they dare not fight me in a decisive battle.

"The more they try to breathe a sigh of relief, the more we have to tighten their necks!"

Zhang Jiayu thought for a moment, and nodded vigorously: "The last general understands His Majesty's deep meaning." The last general then arranged for the swift battalion to march westward! ”

"By the way, there's also Shanxi." Zhu Linmiao continued, "Summoning Jiang Ting, no matter how well he prepares, he will launch it immediately. First made a feint to the east, and when the Jianyu men and horses were mobilized, they immediately turned around and headed west, cooperating with the Sichuan army to recover Shaanxi, and providing relief to the refugees in Xi'an and other places. ”

The imperial court had already contacted Jiang Pai, the chief soldier of Shanxi, more than a month ago, and he, as in history, immediately agreed to raise troops anyway. The first batch of weapons and other items that funded him have also been secretly sent to Datong.

Although Zhu Linmiao didn't know how Jiang Pai was prepared, at present, Jianyu had concentrated all the soldiers and horses in all parts of the country except Henan on the front line of the Huai River, and Jiang Pai would definitely not encounter too many obstacles.

"The more Dolgon concentrates his forces on the Huai River in an attempt to stop my Northern Expedition, the more I have to bloom more, so that he can't take care of the whole thing!"