On the first day of March in the 14th year of Yongli, the Ming army held a swearing-in meeting in Wuchang, and then marched to Changsha.

The whole army includes more than 30,000 people under Li Dingguo's department, 10,000 elite soldiers from Kuidong's families, and 10,000 tiger troops.

The whole army has a total of 50,000 people, claiming to be 100,000, and the momentum is huge and earth-shattering.

The remaining tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were responsible for guarding Wuchang.

Wuchang is an important town, and it must be guarded against.

Although the Qing army is showing weakness now, it is like a poisonous snake hiding in the corner, which may break out and hurt people at any time.

Therefore, Zhu Youlang wants to be foolproof, and would rather stay heavily defended than take the risk of gambling.

It is worth mentioning that when the Ming army went out of the city, the people spontaneously went to the outside of the city to see each other off.

After all, they have seen the performance of the Ming army these days.

This is really in stark contrast to the Qing army.

On the day the Ming army broke the city, the people hid in their homes and closed their doors for fear of disaster. After all, according to the custom, when a large army breaks through the city, the soldiers will wantonly plunder for three days.

They felt that the Ming army would not be an exception.

Who would have thought that the Ming army would not commit any crimes.

It is said that this is related to the strict order of Emperor Yongli today.

Such a good emperor is hard to find even with a lantern.

It was today that they spontaneously came to see them off, just to show their attitude.

Zhu Youlang naturally saw all this. His heart was warm and gratifying.

Who says the people are apathetic?

If you are sincere to them, they will be sincere to you.

Those who win the hearts of the people win the world, and these people are the best propaganda points.

With the support of these people, the soldiers will also be more motivated.

Because they know their efforts are worth it.

The people they guard are worth protecting.

There is no harm without comparison, and under the contrast of the Manchu Dynasty's cruel shaving order, the Ming army is simply the existence of the Bodhisattva Buddha!

Under the welcome of the people, the Ming army left Wuchang City.

I don't know why, starting a new journey, Zhu Youlang actually gave birth to a trace of pleasure.

Maybe it's because of the uncertainty and uncertainty of military life.

Stuck in one place for a long time and having a rigid lifestyle, every day is the same. After a long time, people will become irritable.

From this point of view, Zhu Youlang admired the emperors of those great unified dynasties.

His character may not be used to this kind of life.

So he needs to be in the army all the time to fight in the south and in the north.

Others may not know this, but Zhu Youlang himself knows it.

The route of the attack on Changsha has been decided, first along the Yangtze River to Baling, and then south across the Miluo River.

The former requires a boat ride, followed by an overland march.

The boat on which Zhu Youlang rode had a special decoration, which can be seen at a glance.

The rest of the naval warships guarded the Son of Heaven ship in the center, and the whole was in the shape of an awl.

Zhu Youlang stood at the bow of the boat, letting the river breeze blow his cheeks.

The freshness of early spring is very pleasant.

"Your Majesty, it's windy on the deck, why don't you go back to the warehouse."

Li Dingguo, who was accompanying him, said very respectfully.

"No need. I want to see this great river and mountain on the deck. ”

I have to say that the Yangtze River is really beautiful.

Before attacking Wuchang, the whole army was stretched with a string, and Zhu Youlang was no exception.

At that time, his mind was full of how to take Wuchang, and he was not in the mood to enjoy the scenery on both sides of the Yangtze River.

But now his state of mind is very different.

The Qing army is nothing more than this, as long as the Ming army does its own good, it will have a chance to win.

Looking at the scenery on the river again, it is so amazing.

There is quite a feeling that I see how charming the green mountains are, and the green mountains should be like this when they see me.

"King Jin, what do you say if my army crosses from Dongting Lake after arriving in Baling?"

Zhu Youlang: This is not a decision made by patting his head.

After all, the Ming army brought a lot of artillery this time.

Although it is not as heavy as the Hongyi cannon, it is still a bit troublesome to rely on horses to pull it.

If you take a boat, these problems are not a problem.

"Your Majesty may not be right to change the route of the march rashly. Besides, even if Dongting Lake crosses, it can't directly attack Changsha, and it's far away. ”

Before, Zhu Youlang sketched on the map, and felt that this was a plan, but after Li Dingguo said this, the flaws were obvious.

"And Dongting Lake is too wide. It is easy to be ambushed by enemy sailors. It's hard for us to play to our advantage in surface warfare. ”

Li Dingguo can't be blamed for this. Everyone has their own areas of expertise.

Li Dingguo is good at land warfare, and Zheng Chenggong is good at water warfare, especially naval warfare.

Li Dingguo may not have the confidence to fight the same battle, and Zheng Chenggong will be full of confidence.

But you can't say that Li Dingguo is inferior to Zheng Chenggong, right?

Generally speaking, both of them are the gods of war of the Ming Dynasty, but they are good at different fields.

Therefore, Li Dingguo will instinctively avoid water wars, which Zhu Youlang can also understand.

In fact, Zhu Youlang also mentioned it like that, after all, he also felt that it was not a wise choice to temporarily change the marching route.

Although the enemy army will be circled, the soldiers will also be circled.

Let's go ahead with the original plan.

It's just that Zhu Youlang has always been obsessed with Dongting Lake.

It's a shame that such a good sailor station is wasted.

When the Ming army took the entire southern part of Huguang and controlled the entire Dongting Lake, they must train sailors here.

Although it may not be comparable to Zheng Chenggong's sailor, it must win against Dongyu!

"Your Majesty, there are corpses on the river!"

Li Dingguo's eyes were very sharp, and he immediately noticed something unusual.

Zhu Youlang looked down, and sure enough, he saw floating corpses on the river. And not one, but many!

They rise and fall with the river, and if you don't look carefully, you may not be able to see it clearly!

"What's going on!"

Zhu Youlang was puzzled.

"Order someone to salvage the body and take a look at it."

"Yes!"

Li Dingguo immediately ordered people to go and salvage the corpses, and it didn't take long for more than a dozen corpses to be recovered.

It can be clearly seen that these corpses are covered with armor, and from the fact that they are tied up, it can be judged that these dead soldiers are all Ming soldiers!

Something happened to Baling!

This was Zhu Youlang's first reaction.

And it should have just happened.

Otherwise, Wang Henian will not go so smoothly when he goes to Changsha!

Seeing that the Son of Heaven had a gloomy face, Li Dingguo persuaded: "Your Majesty, maybe it's just an isolated case, don't worry about it first." ”

"Whether it's a case or not is not up to me. Seeing is believing, and everything will be clear when you go to Baling. ”

Li Dingguo nodded and said, "What Your Majesty said is that the minister will order the whole army to speed up." ”

"I really don't want to believe that someone is against the water, I hope I think too much."

Zhu Youlang sighed.

Although he had been prepared, the war was still more cruel than Zhu Youlang imagined.

If it is the worst case, it will also give Zhu Youlang a wake-up call.

The war is not smooth, it is normal to go back and forth, and Zhu Youlang must adapt to this situation!