Sanfu is right...... We can't let the Tartars run amok to our hinterland! "Zhu Cihong can ignore Chuzhou, but he can't ignore Yangzhou, Yangzhou's five salt will pay a tax of 6 million taels of silver a year!

Moreover, Yangzhou itself is the third largest city in the southeast after Nanjing and Suzhou. After the commercial tax was fully introduced, the share of tax money handed over to the household department alone was not a small amount.

In addition, there are many fertile fields on the ground of Yangzhou Mansion that belong to the military tunwei, and the white rice handed over to the military cantons of the military department in a year is also hundreds of thousands of stones.

Such a cash cow-like city, how can Zhu Cihong not care? And the people who live in the city are all businessmen and gentry who have given money, that is, the food and clothing parents of the Ming court! is Zhu Cihong, the "patron" of the prince, and people pay enough protection money! Zhu Cihong's time as a national leader is too short, and his thinking is still the same as the original honest businessman, and he has to do things when he collects money, this is the spirit of contract!

If you really want to come to Yangzhou for three days like in history, who will call it protection money in the future? That's more serious than killing his father, Emperor Chongzhen!

So the first filial son in the world immediately became anxious, and he had to grab Haoge's "tail" and not let him go to Yangzhou to kill people.

"Troops!" Zhu Cihong looked up at the sky outside the window, the scorching sun was in the sky, it was noon, "The sun is too big now, send troops in the evening, and walk the night road...... It's more than 60 miles from us to Chuzhou, and we should be able to get there tomorrow morning! ”

"Do you march at night?" Military advisor Li Yan was a little worried, "You won't be attacked by the Tartars at night, right?" ”

"Chitose Lord, it's too anxious to march more than sixty miles in one night......" Wu Sanfu was also a little worried, "In case the cavalry of the Tartars comes over, I'm afraid it will not be easy to deal with." And after the march, we are likely to encounter the Tartars! ”

"The Tartars in the north are still besieging Fengyang?" Zhu Cihong turned the topic to Fengyang again.

"Still under siege!" Li Yan said with certainty, "Although our sentinels couldn't get too close, they still heard the sound of Hongyi cannons firing from a distance...... That's a lot of cannons! ”

"Then there must be a main force!" Zhu Cihong said, "If there are more cannons, there must be a main force...... The Tartars must have split into two ways.

More than 20,000 people died on the way south, and there are 56,000 people in our four divisions! Twice as many as them, what is there to be afraid of? It's okay to attack at night, let Shi Yang take the lead with Hao Shaoqi! ”

Zhu Cihong had five foreign general regiments in his hands, except for Ferreira's gunner regiment, and the remaining four months were responsible for the training of a model infantry regiment of 2,500 people (including 2,000 soldiers).

After the initial four regiments were basically formed, most of the foreign generals and some of the Ming army officers who had been trained with the regiment were transferred to train eight new model regiments that had been expanded on the basis of the four firearms associations.

After the formation of the four divisions in the Jiangbei battalion, the four regiments of foreign generals who trained infantry all rose to the top and became regiments of foreign generals who guided one division. When they are upgraded, the level of business of each regiment will be even more obvious. General Shi Ruienyang, who had fought in the Thirty Years' War and the British Civil War, was significantly higher than the other regiments, so he was naturally relied on by Zhu Cihong as the backbone and sent to be in charge of the most elite former military division of the four model divisions.

The commander of this former military division is Hao Shaoqi, and the old man is the "rogue soldiers" who participated in the Battle of Dagukou and the "rogue soldiers" brought by Li Yan and the Red Lady. Whether it is the will to fight or the combat experience, it is obviously higher than the other departments under Zhu Cihong's command.

In addition, these "rogue soldiers" also have a certain psychological advantage over the Qing army - they beat the Qing army's Eight Banners at Dagukou is really Manchuria!

Zhu Cihong paused and said: "The Chinese army and artillery regiment are moving with the middle division of Wang Qi and Rotoni (Portuguese generals)...... The military advisor was with me. Sanfu, you go to the queen of Wang Huzi (王髯). ”

"Order!"

"Command!"

Li Yan and Wu Sanfu both got up and ordered - although they did not agree with Zhu Cihong's "rashness", once Prince Zhu decided, the two of them could only do it.

Moreover, with Hao Shaoqi and Shi Ruien leading the way with the most powerful forward division, if the Qing army really wants to fight a night raid, most of them will not be able to take advantage of it.

Maybe it's another "battle of Dagukou"!

......

The eighteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, June 21, evening.

When night fell, the army of 18,000 Eight Banners led by Haoge and Ao Bai had successfully arrived at Dagunling in the northwest of Chuzhou City.

The topography of Chuzhou is the North Ridge Plain. There are two hills in the northeast and northwest, the northwest is called Dagunling and Huangfu Mountain, and the northeast is called Shigu Mountain.

Between the two hills is a hole road, and near the city of Chuzhou, there is also a checkpoint called Qingliu Pass.

Qingliuguan and Chuzhou City are guarded by a small number of Ming troops, which are the guards in the new army of overcoming difficulties, and belong to the troops of the Central Capital Left-behind Division. The number of people is not much, and adding one piece is half an association.

In addition, the local regimental training in Chuzhou was also mobilized, and three or four thousand people were recruited to cooperate with the guards of the half-association to guard Qingliu Pass and Chuzhou City.

Of course, such a defense could not stop the 18,000 Eight Banner soldiers, but Haoge and Aobai did not attack overnight, because they could not figure out the details of Chuzhou - in fact, they did not know that Zhu Cihong had arrived in Dingyuan, nor did they know that there were as many as 56,000 troops following Zhu Cihong to Dingyuan.

Because the sentinels they sent out were also difficult to get close to reconnoitre. Moreover, Zhu Cihong's speed of sending troops from Jiangbei Camp to the north was too fast, which greatly exceeded the expectations of Hauge and Aobai. They didn't even spill enough sentry horses, and Zhu Cihong's army crossed the pond.

In this case, Hauge and Aobai should of course be cautious. Therefore, on the night of June 21, they found a high slope in Dagunling and set up camp.

Of course, the large camp was hastily erected, and there was no trench camp wall, so it relied on cavalry to patrol and guard.

But just when Hauge was busy with military affairs and was ready to rest for a few hours, unexpected news came again!

"Lord Wang, the sentry cavalry came to report and found that tens of thousands of Nanban soldiers had come from a far direction and had already passed the pond ......."

"What?" Hauge squinted his eyes at Ao Bai, who came to report to him, and was stunned and stunned, "Tens of thousands? It's past the pool...... So much? So fast? ”

"And whatever!" "They're still on the march!" ”

"What? Still marching at night? ”

Ao Bai nodded, "The slave has just come down from the top of the Big Gun Ridge Mountain...... You can see their torches from a high place! His N, like a river of fire, boundless and endless, there are really tens of thousands! ”

Tens of thousands of Ming troops, marching rapidly at night...... Where did they come from? Hauge couldn't believe it, was such an army really a Ming army? It doesn't seem to be worse than the Eight Banners! And they're all infantry!

What does it mean that the infantry marched so fast? It's not just a group of elites who are adventurous!

"Lord Wang," Ao Bai asked, "Do you think we should send troops to attack at night?" ”

Hauge frowned, "Sending troops to attack at night? How many troops can be sent now? ”

"Only 3000 ......"

At night, there is an army that has been marching for a day, and even real Manchuria has to sleep! Therefore, the maximum number of people who can be pulled up to the battlefield is only 3,000.

"What's the 3000 fight?" Hauge yawned, "Walking at night at night, and walking so fast, this is not something that a weak soldier can do!" ”

Ao Bai nodded, "Lord Wang, let's ...... Do you want to move the camp to higher ground? ”

"Move to high ground?" Hauge thought for a moment, "Confronting them here in Big Gun Ridge?" ”

"Yes!" Ao Bai said, "The topography of Dagunling is favorable to us, and the mountain is not precipitous, but it is stuck at the gate of Yingtianfu...... If we can join forces after taking Fengyang City, and fight with the southern soldiers according to the Big Gun Ridge, the odds of victory are not small! If we win, the gateway to the north of Yingtianfu Jiangbei will be in our hands! ”

Hauge laughed, "Great idea...... It seems that the prince of the Zhu family still doesn't know how to use soldiers! Not only did he not build Fengyang City to a solid foundation, but he also did not deploy heavy troops in Dagunling! ”