The fast crab boat is not big, no more than six zhang long and one zhang wide. Because of this, even its cabin is very narrow, and the so-called cabin is just a shed nailed out of wooden planks and bamboo mats at the stern, but even such a simple cabin is not a treatment that soldiers can enjoy.

In the light that came in from outside the shed, a few people sat on the ground around a small coffee table, but in fact, they couldn't stand up at all, and they could only bend their waists in this half-person cabin.

"Since the Northern Expedition across the river has become inevitable, I don't know what you think, where should this Northern Expedition be attacked first?"

Looking at the few people kneeling on the coffee table, Zhu Mingzhong said with a smile.

"I think everyone is writing their thoughts down on paper!"

With a half-understood understanding of modern and modern military affairs, Zhu Mingzhong reluctantly set up a simple staff team composed of several people who joined the army, and even this "joining the army" was a name that did not exist in the official positions of the Ming Dynasty, but it only took the meaning of "staff officer military affairs". Now that he is going to the Northern Expedition, Zhu Mingzhong naturally needs to ask for their opinions. After all, Zhu Mingzhong himself is not a person who is good at military affairs, and he always needs some advice from others, especially in this special situation.

A moment later, when several people unfolded the paper, Zhu Daxian and the others suddenly laughed. Several people wrote the same place name on the paper - "Yangzhou".

"This is really the same thing that a resourceful man sees!"

Laughing, Zhu Mingzhong looked at Zhang Guojiu, this middle-aged man who defected to himself after conquering Nanjing, the bloody battle of Tongjimen brought him too many benefits, the most direct benefits in addition to the seizure, that is, many people defected to him, although most of them were not reused by Zheng Chenggong, but Zhu Mingzhong's attitude towards these people was very clear, naturally those who came did not refuse, the more the merrier.

"Yushan, why do you think that this Northern Expedition should be the first to attack Yangzhou?"

"Junmen, I think that if the Junmen intends to go north, they have to fight Yangzhou!"

Zhang Guojiu, who is a native of Qinghe, was originally the same as Zhu Daxian and others, all of whom were working in the Zheng army, but among the xenophobic Zheng army, he was naturally rejected by the people of Fujian Province, and it was precisely because of this that he was invited by Zhu Zhiyu to defect to Zhu Mingzhong.

Now that he joined the army as a loyal soldier, after the military made the decision to go on the Northern Expedition, what he thought of was naturally Yangzhou.

"Yangzhou, the top priority of Jiangbei defense is Yangzhou, because Yangzhou is the gateway to Nanjing, once Yangzhou is lost, Nanjing can go down overnight, so since ancient times, those who want to go south to the south of the Yangtze River must first go down Yangzhou, so if you want to go north to the north, you must go down Yangzhou, and then the Qing Lu south is also along the canal, the reason why the Qing Lu came along the canal, one is because the canal water transport is smooth, the foot soldiers go south by boat, not to mention the leg savings, and can make up for grain and grass along the way, if our army is based on Yangzhou, it will be able to prevent it from going south to the mouth of the river, threatening Nanjing ......"

When Zhang Guojiu said his thoughts, the smiling Zhu Mingzhong just nodded silently, and did not express his opinion, after his voice fell, he turned to Yu Shujie and asked.

"Zhichao, why do you think you should take Yangzhou first?"

"Back to the military gate, the reason why the Northern Expedition should be the first to capture Yangzhou, Fang Cai Yushan has already said, and it will not be repeated in the next, the reason why Yangzhou was chosen under the Xia is because Yangzhou has few soldiers, before the general captured Guazhen, Zhu Yizhu, who was still the governor of the Qing Dynasty, transferred 500 Qing soldiers from Yangzhou to strengthen the defense of Guazhou, and now the Qing soldiers in Yangzhou are only a few hundred people, although there are thousands of people, what is the use?"

There are few defenders!

This is Yu Shujie's point of view, and then Zhu Daxian also said his thoughts, in fact, everyone's views are added together, nothing more than the geographical location is important, it is the gateway to Nanjing, and then Yangzhou Although the city is high and the wall is solid, there are very few defenders.

However, although the goal is the same, it is different from the starting point why Zhu Mingzhong chose Yangzhou.

Pointing to Yangzhou on the map, Zhu Mingzhong said to Zhu Daxian, Yu Shujie, Zhang Guojiu and others.

"At the beginning, the purpose of the general to fight for Guazhou was not to cut off the grain of the Qing captives, but to clear the water road to Nanjing, so after occupying Guazhou, he did not go north by boat and marched to Yangzhou, but only sent Liu You to guard, the town guards were only a thousand people, and the main strength of the army still continued to march towards Nanjing...... And because it is the gateway to Nanjing, the city of Yangzhou is very strong, and a large amount of grain is stored in the city for use in the siege. If Yangzhou is captured, it will not only prevent the Qing captives from going south, but also capture a large amount of grain and grass, so as to meet the military needs of our loyal and righteous army......"

Pointing to Yangzhou on the map, even until now, he still can't adapt to the "map" of this era, this kind of map, at all, has no actual marching value, at most, it tells him that there are any cities and towns near Yangzhou, that's all.

Pointing to Yangzhou on the map, repeating the importance of Yangzhou, Zhu Mingzhong changed the conversation again, and then said.

"However, these are not the reasons why Zhu chose Yangzhou."

Yangzhou is a place of four wars, logically speaking, Zhu Mingzhong should not have chosen there, after all, the excuse for leaving Nanjing was the Northern Expedition, it was just an excuse, the Northern Expedition, depending on where you fell, but if you went to Yangzhou, it would be equivalent to blocking the Qing army and Nanjing, and then it was bound to have a bloody battle with the Qing army, for the current loyal and righteous army, such a bloody battle should have been avoided as much as possible.

But when it comes to practical problems, Zhu Mingzhong can't avoid it, not only can't avoid Yangzhou, but even has to take the initiative to take it!

Because for the Northern Expedition, Yangzhou was too unimportant.

His words made Zhu Daxian, Yu Shujie, Zhang Guojiu, Shi Lei and others slightly surprised, and at the same time, they all turned their eyes to him.

"Yangzhou is where the salt transportation yamen is located, the salt over the years are all from Yangzhou, the salt of the two Huai are transferred in Yangzhou, although Jiangnan Kefu is just around the corner, but if there is no salt in Jiangnan, what should I do?"

The reason why Yangzhou was chosen is not because of its geographical location, but because Yangzhou is close to the two Huai salt fields! Two hundred years later, after the Taiping army occupied Nanjing, because it failed to occupy Yangzhou, let alone control the Lianghuai salt farm, not only caused the water transportation in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to be cut off by the Qing army, which directly affected Nanjing's grain transportation, but more importantly, the salt from the Lianghuai salt field could not be transported into Nanjing, resulting in the Taiping army falling into a situation of salt shortage. It was precisely because he learned about the mistakes of the Taiping Army that Zhu Mingzhong chose Yangzhou.

"Jiangnan is salt-free!"

Zhu Daxian, Yu Shujie, and Zhang Guojiu are all people who have been studying the scriptures for a long time, and they naturally know what kind of predicament the Southern Tang Dynasty without salt fell into after the Lianghuai Salt Farm was taken away by the Northern Zhou Dynasty in history.

"It's not just that there is no salt in the south of the Yangtze River, Jiangxi, Huguang and other places rely on the two Huai salt farms for salt, if there is no salt in the two Huai, tens of millions of people will fall into the suffering of light food......

Suddenly, Zhu Daxian looked at Zhu Mingzhong in surprise, as if he had figured out something, and suddenly clapped his hands and said.

"Junmen, if our army can seize Yangzhou and go north to occupy the two Huai salt fields, then the salt used by the provinces along the Yangtze River will be transferred by Yangzhou, so why does the military gate need to worry about military salaries?"

Everyone suddenly realized that they saw the importance of Yangzhou's geographical location. did not see the wealth contained in Yangzhou, which was undoubtedly more important for the loyal and righteous army, which had huge military salaries.

"Exactly! With the two Huai salt taxes in hand, our army no longer needs to worry about military salaries! ”

Zhu Mingzhong nodded.

Compared with others, money is the most important, 15,000 loyal soldiers, a month alone military pay needs nearly 50,000 taels, although in Jiangyin, Changzhou paid a lot of silver, but the expenditure is more, according to the quartermaster, only Changzhou alone to release money, is not enough to maintain the expenses of the loyal army.

What is a military salary? Military salary is the heart of the army!

And whether it is training troops, making guns, or casting cannons in the future, we need money, and where will the money come from? Torture like Li Zicheng, maybe it is a temporary solution, but how can it be a long-term solution?

Tax!

Only by mastering the tax source is the long-term plan for sustainable development! And Yangzhou, the two Huai salt taxes that are close at hand, how could Zhu Mingzhong miss it! What's more, Yangzhou is still a place where two Huai salt merchants gather, after laying Yangzhou, not to mention anything else, just the reward of the salt merchants in Yangzhou City, I am afraid it is a lot of money......

"When an army marches and fights, in the end it is food and wages, and what is fought is money, and without silver, there is no military salary, and there is no grain and grass, so how can the enemy be defeated?"

In a joke, Zhu Mingzhong clicked on Yangzhou on the map, and then said,

"As long as we can take Yangzhou, from now on, we will no longer have to worry about military salaries, and at that time, we will have the capital to gain a foothold in Jiangbei."

The capital mentioned by Zhu Mingzhong does not mean Yangzhou's taxes, but refers to Yangzhou's ability to control the salt of Lianghuai, and for the control of Zheng Jiajun in Jiangnan, they cannot do without the salt of Lianghuai. In this way, there will be bargaining capital in the future.

Now that he has left Nanjing, Zhu Mingzhong at least does not need to worry about his life as he did in the past, so that he can carefully plan everything for the future.

"It's just, the military gate ......"

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Daxian looked at the junior brother in front of him, who had just entered his father's door, but was deeply appreciated by his father.

"At present, the southern capital has overcome the panic that people in all parts of Jiangbei are panicking, and the same is true for Yangzhou, so it is estimated that it is very easy to lay down Yangzhou, but, the military gate, this Yangzhou is the gateway to Nanjing, if Yangzhou is laid, when the Qing captives go south, I am afraid that they will attack Nanjing, and when the time comes, how to hold Yangzhou?"

Although Zhu Daxian was in favor of attacking Yangzhou at the beginning. But that doesn't mean he doesn't know the risks.

"Even if we go somewhere else? How could this Qing army hide? ”

Facing his senior brother's worries, Zhu Mingzhong said in a firm tone.

"This Yangzhou, no matter what, we are going to decide!"