With 3,000 iron cavalry and the cavalry garrison of the original Fengyang Prefecture, Dolgon combined an army of 10,000 cavalry (actually 9,000 cavalry) to attack Jiangdu, Taizhou, and Rugao to the east.

That is, to cut off the retreat of the Northern Expeditionary Army attacking Yangzhou, and then encircle and annihilate the north and south.

Huai'an Chengzu Dabi and Yancheng Yuele have only one purpose, to firmly attract and contain the strength of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and then cut horizontally by the cavalry, and complete the battle in one battle!

There is no vanity under the fame.

When Dolgon found that the conspiracy was useless to Wu Zheng and was almost immune, he suddenly realized that he was wrong, so he changed his strategy and set up this game.

This is a conspiracy, whether you avoid it or not, it is there, unless you don't want to go on the Northern Expedition and plan to go to a corner of Gou'an, otherwise, you can't escape.

Dolgon calculated correctly, once the war broke out, with the natural danger of the Yangtze River, the Northern Expeditionary Army could not quickly transport heavy artillery across the river, then it would be impossible to form a real combat effectiveness. At that time, the Northern Expeditionary Army could not withdraw if it wanted to, could not break through if it wanted to advance, and was trapped in the north of Yangzhou and could not move.

At most, they retreated to the front line of Gaoyou and Xinghua, but the city defense of these cities could not hinder the Qing army's siege at all.

This problem is difficult to solve, increase troops, once the enemy cavalry breaks through the Jiangdu, Taizhou, Rugao line, then, all the reinforcements will face the Yangtze River natural danger trouble, even if the naval division can control the river, but now the longest range of artillery is only more than ten miles, simply can not control the depth of the shore, once the reinforcements land in the north, they will be in the threat of the enemy's cavalry assault, there is no city defense, no depth, only rely on the warships on the surface, to the north at most thirty miles, and then let the enemy cavalry slaughter.

But there was a variable that Dolgon did not expect, that is, Wu Zheng actually went to Baoying in person and commanded Taizhou to attack Huai'an.

Dolgon didn't want Wu Zheng to die, and when he set up this game, he didn't think about letting Wu Zheng die immediately.

It's not that Dorgon doesn't want to take revenge on Dorgon, if he's strong, it's nothing.

But right now, he himself is in a precarious situation, and he is arranging the aftermath, if Wu Zheng dies, the court will have the biggest heart disease, then he will suddenly die of illness one day, and the court will unload the mill and kill the donkey, and annex the three banners of his own three banners, how can he have any scruples?

Jiangnan is different from the southwest and northwest, it is close to Shuntianfu, and the key Wu Zheng has three sailors in his hands, which can attack and harass Dagukou at any time, and the Qing court has to walk on thin ice.

If Wu Zheng died, then the Yixing Dynasty would be an empty shelf, which would overturn at any time, and the Qing court would be stable if the heart disease of Jiangnan was swept away, which was inconsistent with Dolgon's interests.

Dolgon wanted to weaken Wu Zheng's power so that it could not advance north and could only be trapped south of the Yangtze River, but also could not make Wu Zheng's forces weak and threaten the Qing court.

Therefore, the bureau under Dolgon's deployment was only limited to the north of the Yangtze River. At the same time, he will annihilate at least 30% of the living forces of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and conduct an actual combat assessment of the actual combat effectiveness of his 30,000 new troops, so as to judge the real training ability and loyalty of Shen and Qian.

But what Dolgon didn't expect was that Wu Zheng actually went to Baoying in person, which is probably the biggest variable in this preset game, Dolgon doesn't know at this time, if he knows, he will make a great strategic adjustment, because Wu Zheng is not a coach who inherits Zuyin, but a coach who rises from the war, which is the biggest variable and unstable factor.

In many cases, a manager is enough to influence and reverse the outcome of a war. Dolgon himself knew this.

It's a pity that just as Wu Zheng didn't know that Dolgon had come to Yanzhou in person, Dolgon also didn't know that Wu Zheng was in Baoying.

This is the biggest variable for both sides!

……。

When Wu Zheng got Chen Sheng's urgent report, it was already in the evening of the next day.

This is the most tricky and dangerous moment that Wu Zheng has encountered in the past five years.

Wu Zheng had that panic for a while, he planned to quickly withdraw his troops, so that Chen Shengbu would hard-resist the enemy cavalry from Fengyang Mansion, not much, as long as one day, Taizhou Wei could cross Baoying and retreat to Xinghua.

Then ordered Fang Guoan's military academy corps to defend Jiangdu to the death, and also fought for a day, so that Taizhou Wei and Wu Songwei would join forces in Taizhou, so that they had no less than 30,000 troops in their hands.

Such a force, whether holding or retreating, would be invincible.

The only price was Chen Sheng's 5,000 Jinhuawei and Fang Guoan's 10,000 military academy corps, these two units were tasked with blocking the enemy's cavalry, and it was impossible to get out safely.

But compared to the 60,000 Northern Expeditionary Army all dragged in Jiangbei, it is still worth it.

Wu Zheng consulted with Jiang Quanyi and others for a night.

However, Jiang Quanyi resolutely opposed the withdrawal of troops in this way, he believed that the defenders of Huai'an City were also people, as long as they made every effort to break through Huai'an City, then this situation would disappear, and at that time, it would be us who would control the initiative in the war.

This statement has a certain amount of truth, the premise is that Huai'an City can be broken within two days, otherwise, the advance speed of the enemy cavalry is very fast, the back road will be cut off, and there will be no way to retreat if you want to.

And Jiang Quanyi argued, if the sacrifice of 15,000 people is exchanged for the lives of 30,000 of us, I would rather die under the city of Huai'an, in the past four years, I have been defeated, escaped, and even captured, but never once, I took the initiative to let the brothers die for me, this example, I dare not open it in this life!

Wu Zhengwen was moved, and he couldn't bear it in his heart, the position of Chen Sheng and Fang Guo's security department could quickly retreat to the riverside, and with Zhang Mingzhen's water division here, it was completely possible to retreat to the south bank or go to Jingjiang to hold on.

Let them die for themselves, Wu Zheng is indeed a little unbearable, especially the batch of students in the military academy, which is the backbone of the Northern Expeditionary Army that has been trained for three years.

Wu Zheng was caught in a dilemma.

Seeing that the sky was gradually brightening and time was pressing, Wu Zheng finally made a decision, he issued four orders in a row, ordering Chen Sheng and Fang Guo's security department to quickly retreat south, and Zhang Mingzhen's water division was taken over to Jingjiang to hold on.

The Linglu Domain Department continued to storm Yancheng, striving to make progress within two days.

The first battalion of the First Army of the Northern Expedition, which was ordered to go north, temporarily stationed in Taixing after crossing the river, assisted in the defense of Taizhou, and waited for the next order.

The First Army of the Northern Expedition in Hangzhou was ordered to transfer 10,000 people to Wusong to stand by.

These four orders made Jiang Quanyi shocked, and he asked anxiously: "Lord Wang, are you going to fight to the death with the enemy?" ”

Wu Zheng was silent for a while and said: "Many times, love to fight will win!" ”