Hearing Qian Fenglin's words, Wang Yin nodded approvingly. Although he served as the head of the household, he did not look at the geographical data of Yangzhou and the mountains and rivers near Nanjing in his spare time, and he still understood the situation of Shao Bo Lake.

"If you want to destroy the 100,000 Manchu army with water, you must have ten times the water of Shao Bo Lake." Wang Yin said.

"Is it ten times the water of Lake Shaobo?" Chen Yue smiled mysteriously, "It's not impossible." ”

"Master Hou, you mean?" Wang Yin was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized.

Chen Yue smiled and nodded.

Qian Fenglin looked at the two of them in confusion, lowered his head and thought for a while, and then understood.

"The north of Shao Bo Lake is Hongze Lake, and the entire Huai water flows into Hongze Lake.

However, Hongze Lake is too far away from Yangzhou, and even if the embankment is excavated, it may be difficult to ensure that the flood water flows in the direction we want.

And the breach of the Hongze Lake embankment will inevitably flood countless villages and drown the wheat that is about to ripen for harvest.

The people first flooded and then lost their harvest, and their lives will inevitably be devastated.

Have you thought about all these Hou Ye? ”

Wang Yin asked with a very serious expression.

In fact, since the Yellow River was diverted to seize the Huai River into the sea, the Huai River lost its estuary and flooded, thus forming the magnificent Hongze Lake.

During the Wanli period of Jiajing, Pan Jitao, the governor of the river, controlled the Huai River of the Yellow River four times, and built Gaojiayan and other embankments along the shore of Hongze Lake, artificially raising the water level of Hongze Lake and restricting the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

The water of the Huai River and the Yellow River meet at Qingkou and flow along the river to the sea, and the extremely high flow speed carries away a large amount of sediment and makes the river wider.

This is a strategy to harness water and attack sand.

Since Pan Jitao governed the Yellow River, the Yellow River and the Huai River stopped flooding for several years.

However, since Chongzhen ascended the throne, the imperial court has been busy dealing with rebellious thieves and Jiannu outside the Guan, and has no time to repair the river embankment and control the Yellow River and Huai River.

The Huai River does not flow smoothly into the sea, and a large amount of river water flows in, causing the water level of Hongze Lake to rise year after year. Because the southeast side is blocked by Gaojiayan and other embankments, the overflowing lake often floods Sizhou in the west.

And if the Gaojiayan embankment is opened, the raging lake will roll down to the south, and it is not known how many villages will be submerged.

The water of the Huai River is rolling to the south, and the water of the Yellow River will naturally not be able to resist the water of the Yellow River at Qingkou, and the water of the Yellow River will also pour into Hongze Lake, thus making the flood more and more large.

Think about it more than two years ago, just opened the Yellow River embankment north of Kaifeng, and the entire Kaifeng was flooded by the Yellow River.

The water level of Hongze Lake is not as high as the water level of the Yellow River in Kaifeng, which can bring together the water of the Huai River and the Yellow River, and the amount of water is not too large.

It is conceivable that once the Hongze Lake embankment bursts, the Yangzhou area will become a Ze country. How much disaster will it bring to the people?

That's why Wang Yin asked this question.

After listening to Wang Yin's words, Chen Yue did not answer directly, but asked rhetorically: "If Yangzhou is captured by the Manchus, what does Hengshan Gong think will happen to the hundreds of thousands of people in Yangzhou City?" ”

Without waiting for Wang Yin to answer, he continued: "In Sizhou and Yangzhou, the Manchu Eight Banners have lost more than 5,000 soldiers, and the Manchu chieftain Duoduo has already said that Yangzhou will not seal the sword for ten days after the city is broken.

At that time, I am afraid that there will be hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in this city, and very few will survive.

This is only Yangzhou, what about Nanjing? What about the rest of Daming? And how many innocent people will die under the butcher's knife of the Tartar?

The excavation of the Hongze Lake embankment will undoubtedly cause the displacement of people and the loss of life. But if we can wipe out the 100,000 Qing troops outside the city, our Pingnan Army can return to Nanjing.

In this way, it is possible to thwart the offensive of the Qing army and save the Ming Dynasty from danger.

If I can exchange the lives for the misery of the Ming Dynasty to turn the crisis into safety, how many sins have been caused I Chen Yue is willing to bear alone, even if I fall into the eighteenth layer of hell after death, I Chen Yue will never regret it! ”

Chen Yue said sonorously, with a resolute look on his face.

"What sins are there, my subordinates are willing to bear them with Master Hou!"

Chen Yue's words made Qian Fenglin extremely excited to hear it, and he also stood up and said resolutely.

"Hahahaha......"

Wang Yin laughed wildly.

"Now that Master Hou has already thought about it, the rest is to leave it to the old man to do!

At that time, Pan Gongji tamed the construction of the embankment to restrain the water and attack the sand to solve the great problem of the flooding of the Yellow River, but now it is much easier to dig a hole in the embankment. ”

Chen Yue was overjoyed when he heard this: "With Hengshan Gong to help me, why worry about big things?" ”

After unifying the opinions and deciding to adopt the strategy of water attack, Chen Yue ordered someone to take a topographic map of the Huaiyang area, and discussed it in this arrow tower.

"Mr. Yokoyama, Brother Fenglin, please see, in the south of Hongze Lake, this river is called Sanhe, and it leads to Shao Bo Lake in the south.

These three rivers are the river channels formed when the Huai River bursts, and later Pan Ji tamed Pan Gong to build three river dams here.

As long as we open this Sanhe dam, the water of Hongze Lake can roll down the Sanhe River and go south into Shaobo Lake.

Of course, it is certain that the width of the three rivers cannot accommodate the water of Hongze Lake, and the flooding of Huai Water is inevitable.

But there are three old rivers, at least to ensure that the water of Hongze Lake can flow in the direction we want.

At the same time, we will dig the south embankment of Shaobo Lake, and the water of the lake will roll southward, and it will definitely be able to reach Yangzhou in one fell swoop.

As long as we can keep it absolutely confidential and not let the matter be noticed by the Mantars, Zai chooses the right time to do it.

The Mantars could not be safely transferred to the high ground.

When the flood rolls down, the army of 100,000 Tartars will become fish and turtles! ”

Pointing to the map, Chen Yue said in a slightly hurried tone, he had been thinking hard for several days in order to think about how to break the enemy.

"What Master Hou said is very true." Wang Yin nodded and said, "If you want to keep it secret, you can't use Yangzhou's army and people's strong."

As for the right timing, these two days are the right time.

It was about to rain heavily, and in the heavy rain it was so muddy that the Mantar cavalry could not go out to spy at all.

It is better to dig the levee at night, when the flood arrives so suddenly that the Mantars do not even have time to react.

However, it takes a lot of manpower to dig the embankment, and it is even more troublesome to dig on rainy nights, so how to do it needs to be carefully considered. ”

"This matter is too important, it is related to Yangzhou and the fate of the Ming Dynasty, and only Hengshan Gong can take on this great responsibility.

Hongze Lake has Wu Ping's sailors, and there are more than 10,000 people who have been evacuated from Sizhou, and there is no shortage of manpower.

I will write an order here, ordering Wu Ping and others to completely obey the dispatch of Hengshan Gong.

I'll leave this matter to you. ”

Chen Yue straightened up as he spoke, and saluted Wang Yin solemnly.

"Hou Ye rest assured, Wang Yin will definitely do his best to live up to Hou Ye's trust."

Wang Yin assured with a serious expression.