As soon as the locust plague ended, Zhu Youxiao returned to the capital.

Now is not the time to relax and wander outside.

Because the Ming Empire defeated the locust plague and obtained an unprecedented bumper harvest, he was in a good mood, and as soon as Fang returned to the capital, he went to the Taiye Pool for a swim, which was considered a busy leisure.

Today's Taiye Pond, because the river channel under Yuquan Mountain, the upstream source, has been completely renovated, and the water volume has not decreased in the dry season, but the water level is getting deeper and deeper.

The water is crystal clear, it goes without saying.

After all, it is a river that originates from Yuquan Mountain, which is known as the first spring in the world, and there is no pollution along the way, even if it is used for direct drinking.

The Yuquan River was the first river to be renovated by Zhu Youxiao's order, and it was not only completely dredged, but also widened and deepened.

And starting from the Taiye Pond to both banks along the way to Yuquan Mountain, the bluestone embankment has been built, and the bluestone riverside avenue with a width of ten zhang has also been built.

This road has been listed as the royal royal avenue, and no one else is allowed to go on the road.

In order to protect the Jade Spring Mountain and the Jade Spring from being destroyed by anyone, even the Royal Academy of Sciences has been relocated to the southeast camp of the Royal Guards again.

After all, the spring water of the first spring of Tianshan Mountain is so rare that it is unique for drinking and making tea.

After taking a dip in the Taiye Pool and eliminating the fatigue all over his body, Zhu Youxiao returned to the palace in good spirits.

In front of the Qianqing Palace, Sun Chuanting and Yan Yingyuan had been waiting for a while.

"Two Aiqing, come in together."

When Zhu Youxiao entered the palace, he received a report from a female official, so he strode over and said directly to Yan Yingyuan and Sun Chuanting.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." ……

Sun Chuanting and the two replied respectfully.

The two of them, as well as Lu Jiude, can be regarded as the three most well-behaved and etiquette people in the Ming Empire.

The three of them entered the Qianqing Palace and sat down in the Ming Room.

Although Zhu Youxiao's Imperial City Super Electric Project was interrupted due to the arrival of the locust plague, not even one of them has been successful yet.

But there is no shortage of ice cubes now, saltpeter ice, it is impossible for Zhu Youxiao not to know, of course, he popularized it early.

Although it is the hottest time of the year, there are several huge ice basins around the Qianqing Palace, so the temperature is very cool.

People are in it, and there is no feeling of midsummer.

"Your Majesty, the ministers are here, mainly for the affairs of Henan and Fengyang Mansion."

As soon as Sun Chuanting sat down, he spoke first, "Because Huang Degong left Henan with an army of 300,000 troops from Beizhen, the raging peasant rebels from all walks of life were in full swing at the beginning, and the people suffered greatly. ”

"But they were only proud for two or three days, and they were hit by the gluttonous army that forced them to cross the Yellow River!"

"In just a short period of time, Chen Qiyong, the commander of the Gluttonous Legion, led the soldiers of the two divisions and regiments, divided into two roads and pushed all the way, and there was no enemy under him."

"The 30,000 soldiers of the 1st Division of the Gluttonous Legion captured Luoyang City and its surrounding areas on the day they crossed the river, and then attacked in the southwest direction."

"The officers and men of the Guards of the Second Division also captured Kaifeng Mansion in one go, and after clearing and controlling the surrounding areas, they advanced to the southeast."

"The peasant rebel armies entrenched in various parts of Henan are all vulnerable under the absolute firepower and combat effectiveness of the Royal Guard."

"Basically, they were all knocked down in one face, and then they fled frantically to the south and southeast."

"The 60,000 soldiers of the gluttonous army, after nearly 20 days of intensive fighting and non-stop advancement, until yesterday, have completely controlled the huge Henan."

"Now the soldiers of the gluttonous army are completely cleaning up the entire Henan region, and have begun to organize the Royal Construction Company and the Henan Branch, and have vigorously launched the promotion of the two basic national policies of the Ming Empire."

"As for the so-called Eight Heavenly Kings and other bandits, after fleeing from Henan, they have re-entrenched themselves in Xiangyang and other surrounding areas."

"According to the minister's estimate, for the time being, they will not dare to go north to make trouble, and there is a high probability that they will regroup in the Xiangyang area and along the Yangtze River."

Sun Chuanting finished talking about the basic situation of the peasant rebel army and Henan in one breath, breathed a sigh of relief, and then said: Nuancai Literature Network

"It's a pity that this time, the soldiers of the Gluttonous Legion pushed all the way and launched a sweep, but they didn't catch and hunt down any of the bandits."

Although he said this, he knew in his heart what it was all about:

At the moment before he set out on the expedition, Chen Qiyong received secret orders from the military headquarters and His Majesty the Emperor, asking him to temporarily keep a hand on the leaders of the peasant rebel army, let them go, and settle accounts after a year.

Its purpose, which is self-evident, is to make the Jiangnan puppet dynasty completely chaotic, so that their already small popular support will gradually be completely lost.

However, it is one thing to do what you do, and it is another thing to say what you say.

There are some things that cannot be put on the surface.

"Your Majesty, as for the two divisions with Li Dingguo and Hao Shaoqi, as well as the Third Army of the Yongwei Army, in the area around Fengyang Mansion, Liu Zeqing and Huang Degong, who launched an endless war, are now also completely defeated by the soldiers of our Ming Empire."

"Although the soldiers of these two Southern Ming puppet dynasties are better than the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty before August last year, they are too far behind our armaments and logistics."

"In addition, they are all new recruits, and they have not experienced any large and medium-sized battles at all, and their combat effectiveness and cohesion are not good."

"These 600,000 recruits of the Southern Ming Puppet Dynasty, as well as nearly half of the soldiers, are all selected by the Southern Ming Dynasty in the form of drawing, and their will to fight can be imagined."

"Therefore, the battle with them is much easier than the battle between the soldiers against the Tartars before."

According to Sun Chuanting, Li Dingguo and Hao Shaoqi led three divisions respectively to attack from Guangping Mansion and Daimyofu.

In just five days, the two state capitals had been occupied, and then the two of them crossed the Yellow River with the assistance of the Royal Navy with a large army, continued to advance westward, and encountered Liu Zeqing's troops in Guide, and the two armies immediately started a major battle.

Liu Zeqing's unit, which was fighting a major battle with the officers and men of one and a half divisions of the Third Army of the Yongwei Army, was originally blocked by the soldiers of the Yongwei Army in Guide Mansion, and could not break through the enemy's position no matter what.

And now they are being stabbed by Li Dingguo and Hao Shaoqi, with 180,000 soldiers from behind the buttocks, where will they be the opponents of the soldiers of the Ming New Army?

As a result, as soon as the two sides started a big battle, it was a decisive battle!

Under the full command of Li Dingguo, Liu Zeqing's 300,000 troops in Dongzhen immediately began to collapse and flee after being bombarded indiscriminately by the fierce artillery fire of the Ming Empire at the beginning of the war!

As soon as his side began to exert force, the enemy had already fled, and Li Dingguo naturally would not let go of the opportunity to beat the water dogs, and immediately launched a tail-of-the-road pursuit.

After two days and two nights of chasing and fighting between the two armies, Liu Zeqing, who successfully escaped to Huai'an Mansion, was left with less than 100,000 soldiers.

The rest of the more than 200,000 soldiers, except for the soldiers led by Li Dingguo, who were killed and killed more than 10,000 people, all the rest surrendered and became prisoners.

Subsequently, after the two divisions of the Guards and the Yongwei Army converged, they began to launch a general attack on the Huang Degong troops in the area of Chenliu.

This Huang Degong Department is a little stronger than Liu Zeqing's Department, and it did not fall in a battle.

But it's only a little stronger.

After three days of back-and-forth battles between the two sides, the North Sea Fleet's military logistics, especially a large number of artillery shells, had arrived, and Li Dingguo gave the order to launch the final decisive battle.

At the beginning of the decisive battle, the officers and men of the Daming New Army of the nine divisions, with a total of more than 200 new-style Shenwei general artillery, launched a covering bombardment on the enemy's forward positions.

The officers and soldiers of the Southern Ming Dynasty and the puppet Chaobei Town finally couldn't bear the huge death blow, and collapsed like Liu Zeqing's troops!

But because Henan has fallen, if Huang Degong's department wants to return to Henan's nest, it is to throw himself into the net.

Therefore, the only way for them to escape is to retreat to Huai'an Mansion like Liu Zeqing's troops.

Subsequently, under the pursuit of the army led by Li Dingguo, the remnants of Huang Degong, who were able to retreat to Huai'an Mansion, were about the same as the remnants of Liu Zeqing, and they were less than 100,000 people.

The two armies of 300,000 each, the process of fighting was different, but the outcome was basically the same, and there were only less than 100,000 soldiers and horses left.

Not only was the vitality greatly damaged, but even the guns and knives and other weapons were discarded, and the two soldiers and horses of the North Town and East Town of the Southern Ming Dynasty were completely abandoned for the time being.

Coupled with the annihilation of the original Zheng Zhilong's Nanzhen soldiers and horses, the current Nanming puppet dynasty only left Zuo Liangyu's army in Xizhen.

It is estimated that those civil and military officials, big families, and powerful and wealthy people of the Southern Ming Dynasty are completely dead at this time.

For a long time, they definitely didn't dare to mention the matter of Zhu Youxiao, the "unenlightened monarch" of the Northern Expedition.

The only way to do this is to stop and recuperate, in order to plan to come back.