After Caoyun was robbed, Lin Qilong claimed to the imperial court that he wanted to make meritorious contributions, but Lai refused to return to Huai'an in Yangzhou, and confronted the Ming army near Guazhou for two months. After the news of this incident spread, the magistrates of Shanxi, Shandong, and Henan all shouted at Lin Qilong and shouted at him, believing that he must be severely punished. However, the governments of the two lakes and the two rivers all spoke for Lin Qilong, saying that they were willing to share the responsibility, thinking that Lin Qilong had ensured the smooth flow of Cao Yun under the threat of the Ming army several times, and he was a great minister.

Zhejiang also interceded for Lin Qilong, believing that the imperial court should give more opportunities to these courtiers who had no merit and hard work, not to mention that it was indeed as Huguang and Liangjiang said, the strategic situation faced by Lin Qilong was too sinister, and the Sichuan and Shaanxi sides could not play a role in containment, so that Deng Ming launched the Eastern Crusade again and again. If you ignore Lin Qilong's previous efforts to cover the safety of Caoyun several times, and severely punish him just because of this mistake, it will be too chilling for the heroes.

Sichuan, which was criticized by Zhejiang, did not shirk its responsibility, and Gao Mingzhan pleaded for the governor of Caoyun on behalf of all the soldiers who were fighting on the front line in Chongqing. Gao Mingzhan said that Deng Ming was the most dangerous enemy encountered since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, and the soldiers risked their lives to fight with him, but they still lost more than they won. Lin Qilong had no soldiers and no generals in his hands, and he actually blocked the Sichuan army three out of four times and rescued Cao Yun, if Lin Qilong was dismissed, who would dare to do this errand, let alone put him to death! Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers on the Chongqing front made a rare move, saying that they believed that Zhejiang was right and were willing to share the responsibility with their colleagues on the Yangtze River front.

Shaanxi was silent, neither supporting Lin Qilong along the Yangtze River, nor scolding like other northern provinces, and finally muttering that Lin Qilong had rescued the body of the former emperor, suggesting that they were more inclined to the opinions along the Yangtze River.

Beijing also felt that now was indeed not a good time to pursue Lin Qilong, if it had been placed a few years ago, it would have been disposed of, but in recent years, 200,000 Qing troops have been wiped out by the Sichuan army, and Beijing's confidence is not so sufficient. Moreover, after receiving the warning this time, Beijing and Shandong unanimously agreed to hold their troops still, and if it is said that the fighter plane is delayed, Beijing is also responsible.

At this time, a new quarrel broke out in Shandong, and he thought about it, and felt that it was of little significance to go to the Yangtze River to chase Deng Ming, although he lost his luck, but Lin Qilong said that the Ming army had attacked Guazhou for a long time, and its morale had fallen. If the Ming army can't even take Guazhou, Curb Bilong feels that Deng Ming may not be able to take Jiangning. It is indeed a bit risky for the main force of the Qing army to go to the Yangtze River to fight against the Ming army, which has the advantage of naval divisions, and it is better to attack the Hanshui Valley through Henan, or enter Shaanxi and then go to Sichuan, and destroy Deng Ming's old nest.

However, Jieshu was fed up with Li Guoying's praise of Deng Ming's advantages on the water, and was determined to go to Jiangnan and fight a battle happily. When Jie Shu and Ji Bilong asked Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi refused to support either party's opinion: it was Li Guoying who said that the loss of Cao Yun meant that Jiangnan was out of control, but now that Cao Yun was really lost, Li Guoying still couldn't muster up the courage to go to the river to fight Deng Ming, and the last defeat in Wanxian gave him a too profound lesson; As for the plan of Kubilong to go deep into Sichuan and directly attack Chengdu, Li Guoying also hummed and didn't want to agree, but he didn't dare to say that it was useless for the invincible Eight Banners in the world to arrive in Sichuan, so he desperately emphasized the transportation problem of baggage.

Seeing that the Qing army in Shandong did not move, he didn't know what medicine they were selling in the gourd, and Deng Ming did not act rashly, lest he would walk the Qing army on the front foot and go south on the back foot, and suddenly make the southeast change the sky. Some people suggested that Deng Ming use the same method as the last time to deal with Shunzhi to deal with Jieshu, that is, to withdraw the troops first, and if the Shandong Qing army invaded Jiangnan, the Ming army would return to the division. But last time Shunzhi's troops were relatively small, and as soon as he came out of Zhili, he was closely watched by Jiangnan, and before the Eight Banners of the Forbidden Brigade arrived in Shandong, the Jiangnan government already knew the details of Shunzhi. After Deng Ming returned to Yangzhou at full speed, Shunzhi was still far from the border in southern Shandong; And now that the Qing army is already in Shandong, if Deng Ming withdraws, he will lose the advantage of waiting for work.

"Now Huguang and Liangjiang are willing to buy our bonds, because they think in their hearts that we can fight the main force of the Qing court, and if they choose to be our allies, they can count on our protection." Although Deng Ming thought that this was suspected of taking advantage of the governor of the southeast, he finally made up his mind to engage the Qing army, and if he won, the situation in the entire south would probably be reversed.

"There is no need for a big victory, as long as a small victory is enough, to show the strength of our army to the south, and to expose the weakness and incompetence of the Qing court," Deng Ming said to his allies and subordinates, "as long as we can stop Jieshu and force him to return to the division." From then on, the southeast was not owned by the Qing court. ”

After making up his mind, Deng Ming sent a large number of meticulous workers to collect information on the Qing army, and prepared to ambush the Qing army on the southern expedition at a location around Yangzhou Prefecture as he did with Shunzhi - if they did come to Jiangnan.

In the end, it was Beijing that played a decisive role, and seeing that Deng Ming was unwilling to leave Guazhou, he ordered the Shandong troops to march south, no matter what happened in the future, and then reopen the canal. After the robbery of Caoyun, Beijing felt even more uneasy about Zhou Peigong's ability to suppress Deng, and in the past, Beijing thought that the southeast was like the north of China in the year of Chongzhen, and every time it encountered the enemy's main force, it could only hold the city and then follow to limit the opponent's movements.

Beijing noticed that Deng Ming had been unable to conquer any large city, and even small and medium-sized cities had nothing to do, and only Jiujiang was an accidental phenomenon. That being the case, Beijing argues that Deng's crusades were limited in their gains, as the looting of the countryside was inefficient and not as concentrated as the wealth of the cities. Therefore, Beijing believes that Li Guoying's claim that the Ming army in western Sichuan has obtained astonishing seizures from the Eastern Expedition is a serious exaggeration, and most of it is also an attempt to shirk responsibility -- the Qing army was able to return again and again with full loads, and it also relied on the Qing army's ability to storm cities.

Beijing originally thought that if Deng Ming withdrew his troops as usual, he would let Kubilong take 10,000 elite soldiers to Yangzhou to have a look, so as to grasp the first-hand information on the defense of Jiangnan -- anyway, they had all arrived at the border between Shandong and Jiangnan, and it would not take too much effort to go there. However, this time Deng Ming was different from the past, besieging Guazhou for a long time and refusing to return to Sichuan, and Beijing felt that it was still necessary to take advantage of the present problem and cooperate with the Liangjiang troops to drive Deng Ming back to Sichuan in the winter.

From the end of July, the center of gravity of the Qing army continued to shift to the south, and by the end of August, the vanguard reconnaissance unit of the Qing army in Shandong had arrived in Fengyang.

At this time, both sides were very cautious, the central army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Ming army of western Sichuan were about to have the first large-scale head-to-head confrontation, although Jie Shu was very arrogant in words, but he also attached great importance to this battle in his heart, and pressed his reputation as a deterrent to the wall-riding faction. The same is true for the Ming army in western Sichuan, although the Sichuan army has been invincible since its formation, but it has not fought with the 100,000-strong Manchu Central Army, and as the news of the Qing army approaching continues to come, officers at all levels have also shown some nervousness.

At this time, Huai'an has an atmosphere of mountain rain coming and the wind is full of buildings. Since discovering that the Qing army in Shandong began to move south, the Ming army began to control the Caogong in the southern section of the canal, and there has not been a single boat from Yangzhou in the past half a month, and there are few pedestrians on the official road. The governor of Caoyun, who was sitting in Yangzhou, vigorously reported safety to the rear. But if it is really safe, the canal should not be deserted like this, and experienced officials know that the Ming army is trying to create an intelligence shield. Since the Ming army was able to blockade it so tightly, it shows that Deng Ming's plan is not small, and if you want to create such a blockade, you also need to mobilize a lot of troops.

Since mid-August, the boats upstream have also disappeared, which means that the Qing army in Shandong has also recruited every boat they encounter. When the official road to the north became empty, the sense of unease around Huai'an became even stronger, and those from wealthy families fled one after another, and ordinary people also helped the old and the young to hide around. Now is the time of agricultural slack, even those who cannot afford to flee to other places, also bury their farm tools, and hide in areas far away from canals and official roads, so as not to encounter the passing Ming and Qing armies.

At this time, there were still many subordinate officials in the Yamen, the governor of Caoyun, and none of the core personnel who stayed here were the core personnel, and the most trusted people had already been summoned to Yangzhou by Lin Qilong. Although the people left behind didn't know much about Lin Qilong's secret, they still vaguely saw something inappropriate. Prince Kang and the Auxiliary Minister are likely to pass by here, and they will definitely have to seriously inquire about Caoyun at that time, and many people are now wondering in their hearts, whether to put the treasure on Lin Qilong, counting on him to keep his official position, continue to be loyal to him and keep his job, or do they fight back and secretly report the suspicious things they know to Jieshu and Kupilon?

Of course, this kind of secret accusation is also very dangerous, first, because there is no real evidence, and second, the Qing court will often convict the informant of false accusation in order to appease the local officials. For example, at the beginning of the Guangdong Patrol, saying that Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao were rampant and domineering in Guangdong, the imperial court felt that it still needed the service of the vassal king, so it convicted the inspector who reported the truth of the false accusation and hanging-now the officials who stayed in the Yamen of the Caoyun Governor were all small sesame officials, and if the imperial court felt that it was necessary to borrow their heads to appease Lin Qilong, then the whistleblower would not even blink an eyelid if he killed him.

The Liangjiang troops stationed here also had mixed feelings, and they felt very bad about being sandwiched between the central army of the Qing court and the Ming army, and many people felt precarious. They are now all looking forward to a certain side passing through Huai'an as soon as possible, no matter which side it is, so that Huai'an can become a safe rear, and there is no need to worry about this place becoming the main battlefield of the battle between the two armies all day long as it is now.

The officers and soldiers of the river and the Liangjiang army, who were in a bad mood, searched the surroundings all day long, and arrested the rich households who had no time to escape as the meticulous work of the Ming army. At this juncture, the magistrates will not fight for the common people, they will definitely stand by the side of the army unconditionally.