Dantu County, which is close to the south bank of the Yangtze River, was captured by the Qing army at noon, although it was almost an empty city, but in the view of Ao Keduoli, who easily took the city, it was normal for the southern barbarians to flee from the army.

At the head of Dantu City, he gave up his hands to deal with the officers of Daohe, and smiled at the grain supervisor Erde beside him: "God bless me Daqing!" It coincided with the civil strife of the barbarians and the dry water of the Yangtze River, so the army of more than 100,000 people arrived on the south bank in two days without boats. ”

"Haha, exactly." Erde nodded and looked north at the Yangtze River, only 234 zhang wide of the river was left with several thick ropes running across it, and wooden planks four or five feet wide were fixed on both sides of the ropes, forming a pontoon bridge that could accommodate six or seven people in parallel, leading directly to the opposite bank.

This method of crossing the river can only be used during severe dry seasons, because the water is slow and will not break the pontoon, and the water is shallow, so that even if it falls into the water, others can quickly rescue it.

Ao Keduoli continued: "His Royal Highness Prince Yu was hesitating where to cross the river from Zhenjiang and Jiangyin, and Ai Songgu happened to come back with news. ”

He pointed to the dozens of miles of company camps looming to the west, "It's just that I don't know why His Highness let the army set up a position on the shore and set up camp and fortify, and he had to transport 300,000 stones, grain, and grass to the south bank before he was willing to march."

"If you want me to say, first capture Zhenjiang, which is close in front of you, and then the army will wave to Nanjing, and you will definitely be able to capture the barbarian emperor in one battle!"

Erde arched his hand and said: "It is said that His Royal Highness the regent has repeatedly told him not to underestimate the enemy, not to divide his troops and to advance. Therefore, the general was extremely cautious about this battle. He motioned in the direction of the camp of Duoduo, "If it were not for Aisonggu's words, the general might have to go south from Jiangyin in order to be safe." ”

A few days ago, Aisongu suddenly appeared in the Duoduo camp, indicating that the army had 20,000 or 30,000 weak brigades hoarded in Jiangning, still preparing grain and grass, and he saw that the barbarian emperor was busy preparing for the wedding, and the city of Nanjing was full of joy and peace, and he must not have realized that the army was about to cross the river. Then he strongly recommended Duoduo to go south from the vicinity of Zhenjiang and go straight to Nanjing.

Ao Keduoli waved his hand and laughed: "It's just 20,000 or 30,000 barbarians, I think I only brought 3,000 soldiers and horses, and I killed 40,000 southern soldiers."

"Ah, don't you know, the general has been preparing the carts since a few months ago, and now there are at least more than two thousand of them! The barbarians all use firearms, and they are most afraid of the carts, and when the time comes, they will be piled to death. ”

Speaking of this, he suddenly nodded and said, "I know, the general must be waiting for all the cannons to be sent across the river." In the end, there are more than 170 respect cannons, and it is quite troublesome to transport. ”

Although the pontoon bridge of the Qing army was wide, it absolutely could not bear the weight of several thousand catties, and these heavy artillery could only be ferried across the river by flat-bottomed sand boats that had been temporarily looted, and only a little more than half of them had been transported so far.

An adjutant general beside him came over and said: "General, the last general thinks that His Royal Highness Prince Yu will transport all the grain and grass to the south bank, and he should be preparing to capture the entire territory of Jiangnan in one go, and then take Zhejiang directly." In this way, the nearby grain storage side will not affect the rapid advance of the army. ”

"Yes," said Oak with a stroking of his palms, "it must be so!" He patted Erde on the shoulder again, "Brother, let your people work harder." When I get the head of the barbarian, I will give you some points in exchange for your combat merits! ”

The latter was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately recruited his henchmen, pointed to the people who were as dense as an ant colony on the river, and said: "Order, let those lazy bones be a little sharper!" Those who can't carry 40 bags a day will be whipped 50, and more than 60 bags will have food! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, an officer walked quickly to the top of the city and beckoned from afar, "General, I have found you." ”

Erde hurriedly said: "But does Lord Belle have orders?" He and the people who came were all inlaid with yellow flags, so the Baylor was referring to the Baiyin map.

The officer took out the military order of Baiyintu and handed it over, "Because the people are strong and are mostly used by the general, Lord Belle ordered that after the grain and grass are transported, let you gather the people to build an additional fort on both sides of the Yangtze River." ”

Erde looked at the earthen fortress by the river and wondered, "Didn't you just build two forts a few days ago?" ”

"Lord Belle said that this pontoon bridge is the main road for the army to advance and retreat, and there are many southerners warships, so there must be more forts to prevent southerners from destroying the bridge."

Before Bai Yintu left Beijing, Xiaozhuang repeatedly told him, saying that the two yellow flags were the last reliance of the Qing Dynasty and the Son of Heaven, and he must be cautious and not let the two yellow flags not be in the south of the Yangtze River.

In fact, the river near Zhenjiang is already very shallow, and large warships cannot drive it at all, and the existing four artillery batteries on both sides of the bank are enough to block the river more than 20 zhang wide. After all, no matter how powerful the warship is, it is also wooden, and it is a back-attack, and it is difficult to defeat the turret made of earth and stone.

However, Bai Yintu strictly carried out the decree of the Queen Mother, and was very careful, not only allowing Erde to build two more forts, but also planning to build walls and ditches along the coast, and strengthen pontoon bridges.

Erde hurriedly bowed down to receive the order, but remembered that there were still thousands of carts of war horses and forage to be transported, and secretly said in his heart, I am afraid that many people will be tired to death this time. But he was relieved that these barbarians were dead and still saved food, but it was just a bit of trouble to catch so many more......

After Zhu Linmi's car drove out of Nanjing, he kept walking along the wooden track.

However, at present, the number of wooden rail cars is too small, and the imperial camp can only use wooden rails to transport heavy weapons and baggage. However, even so, unloading these two things that affect the speed the most, the march speed of the imperial camp with horses in the whole army is more than fifty percent faster.

This section of the wooden track from Nanjing to Guangde was built with the money obtained from the raised shares, but it is somewhat different from Zhu Linmiao's pre-plan, the wooden track of the Ming Dynasty can only barely keep the capital, and the shareholders have not paid any dividends so far.

Due to the technical limitations of this era, the wooden tracks carried heavy loads every day, which were extremely fragile, and almost all the profits were used for repair and maintenance.

Zhu Linmiao also has a deep understanding of this way, every two or three miles, you can see craftsmen repairing the track. Fortunately, most of them are only reinforcement and maintenance, which does not affect the passage too much.

And Zhu Linmiao is not in a hurry, after all, it is not easy to mobilize 150,000 horses, plus the porters and coolies accompanying the Qing army, there are hundreds of thousands, which is also the origin of Duoduo's claim of 400,000 troops - soldiers plus logistics personnel.

With the speed of mobilization of the old army, it would take three or four days for so many people to cross the Yangtze River in their entirety.

And if Duoduo sent a team of people to harass him first, it was something that Zhu Linmiao couldn't ask for. According to the plan established at the Jiangning General Staff Meeting a few days ago, as soon as it was learned where the Jianyu had crossed the river, the Ming army would immediately open its pockets at the corresponding location and be ready for battle.

You must know that the military information of Duoduo's crossing of the river was first sent to Jiangning, and then transferred from the military headquarters to Nanjing. At this moment, the men and horses of the Ming army should have been going to the ambush site for most of the day, and the slowest will be able to reach the destination before dawn tomorrow.