Wu Ping was ordered to lead half of the naval army from Hongze Lake to Sizhou to meet the retreat of Jin Shenghuan's troops, and then stationed his troops in Hongze Lake. Tens of thousands of people who had retreated from Sizhou were resettled on the border of Huai'an Province to the east of Hongze Lake.

The Qing army of the Duoduo Department went south from Guide Province, and went straight to Yangzhou through Suzhou and Sizhou, taking almost a straight line, and did not pass through Xuzhou Huai'an, and now the two provinces of Xuzhou and Huai'an are still under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

Xuzhou is too far away from Yangzhou and too close to Shandong, Chen Yue did not send many troops to guard, but he could not help but defend Huai'an Mansion, which was only more than 300 miles away from Yangzhou, and sent the general Yang Zhengping as the general of Huai'an, with several battalions of the Pingnan Army and Huai'an's regimental training to guard Huai'an Mansion.

Compared with Yangzhou, which was being attacked by the Qing army, Huai'an was like a 'big rear'.

After Wu Ping and Jin Shenghuan withdrew from Sizhou, Chen Yue did not let them return to Yangzhou immediately, but repaired near Huai'an. The troops defending the city in Yangzhou were sufficient, and Chen Yue, the army of Wu Ping and Jin Shenghuan, was ready to use it as a surprise soldier.

After Wu Ping and Jin Shenghuan read the order issued by Chen Yue in Wang Yin's hand, they immediately surrendered their hands to the order and handed over the entire command to Wang Yin.

There was nothing to say all night, and early the next morning, Wang Yin ordered Wu Ping to lead a fleet carrying a battalion of soldiers to Shao Bo Lake, and together with Chen Mo, he was responsible for digging up the embankment of Shao Bo Lake.

Then Wang Yin personally took a battalion of soldiers to the Sanhe Dam on the south side of Hongze Lake by boat, and after choosing a location, a battalion of soldiers of the Pingnan Army began to dig the embankment in the rain.

To the south of the excavation is the Three Rivers, and when the water level of Hongze Lake is too high, it overflows the top of the embankment and flows into the Three Rivers, and then flows south along the Three Rivers into Shao Bo Lake. Therefore, the three rivers are actually a flood channel of Hongze Lake.

Some time ago, heavy rain fell in the Jianghuai area, which made the water level of Hongze Lake extremely high, almost flush with the top of the three rivers embankment, and from time to time a trickle overflowed the top of the embankment and flowed into the three rivers.

This embankment is still repaired when Pan Jixun governed the Yellow River and Huai River, the top of the trapezoidal embankment is five or six zhang wide, and the inside is wrapped with a stone, which can be described as strong and abnormal, it took several years to recruit more than 100,000 people to build the embankment on the southeast side of Hongze Lake such as Gaojiayan and Sanhe Dam, and protected a large area of land in the southeast of Hongze Lake from being flooded by Huai Shui.

It is not very easy to dig such a strong embankment, Wang Yin initially estimated that even if 3,000 people start construction at the same time, it will take more than half a day. However, everything was in time, according to the agreement with Chen Yue, the embankment would be dug at night, and then rushed into the Manchu camp, so that the Manchu Tartars had nowhere to hide.

The soldiers were ordered to begin digging the levee in the pouring rain, but it was difficult to place powder kegs on top of the levee.

The water of Hongze Lake overflowed the top of the embankment, and if you dig a hole, it will definitely cause water everywhere in the hole, so how to plant the gunpowder?

After careful consideration, Wang Yin ordered people to pry up hundreds of stones from the lake embankment, and then use the stones to build a rectangular space on the lake embankment to be blasted, and seal the gaps between the stones with cement. Huge tents were then erected on top of the rectangular space to shelter from the rain.

Then the water in the stone circle was scraped out with basins and wooden scoops, and the tent became a space without water. Cheng Hai, a gunpowder craftsman who accompanied him, commanded a dozen or so soldiers to dig deep pits in the tent.

Qingjiangpu, located on the west side of the city of Huai'an, where the Huai River and the Yellow River meet, then flow east into the sea.

At this moment, at the canal wharf south of Qingkou, hundreds of warships are moored in the canal, lined up for more than ten miles. More than 20,000 soldiers of the Pingnan Army wore robes and hats, and walked silently in the heavy rain, lining up to get on the boat. When each of the warships was full, they pulled out the anchor and set sail, passing through the Qingkou and sailing towards Hongze Lake.

On the dock, Yang Zhengping was wearing a military uniform and a robe to see off Jin Shenghuan.

"I really envy General Jin for being able to lead the army to a decisive battle with Mantar, but I can only stay in this Huai'an City, and I can't use all my strength."

Yang Zhengping sighed. Since the Qing soldiers went south, he was entrusted by Chen Yue to the post of Huai'an commander-in-chief, sitting in Huai'an City, and could only watch Yangzhou fight in full swing but could not play a role.

"The last general is just beating the water dogs, General Yang is a great responsibility to sit in Huai'an, it is reported that Shandong's Mantars are ready to move, maybe it won't take much time to send troops south, Huai'an will bear the brunt."

Jin Shenghuan said with a smile, he was very self-aware, knowing that although he was also reused by Chen Yue, if he gained Chen Yue's trust, he was far inferior to Yang Zhengping. In the entire Pingnan military system, Yang Zhengping was the first person below Chen Yue, so he assumed such an important responsibility as guarding the first government.

In the midst of this heavy rain, hundreds of boats carrying more than 15,000 soldiers of the Pingnan Army sailed into Hongze Lake, and they were the main force attacking Mantar from the north.

......

Shao Bo Lake embankment, under the command of Chen Mo, the embankment has been dug up a large section of 20 zhang wide, of course, it has not been dug through, but there is a thickness left to block the lake. The remaining embankment was dug with several deep holes, buried in powder kegs weighing 200 catties, long leads stretched out through bamboo pipes, and the upper part of the caves was filled with earth.

All preparations were still in place, and a battalion of soldiers was stationed on the embankment, waiting for the night.

......

The heavy rain shrouded the whole land, and the Qing army camp ten miles northwest of Yangzhou City was silent, and the heavy rain made the siege completely impossible, but it was a rare moment of rest.

The rain was so heavy that the ground was muddy and difficult to walk, and the patrol cavalry that had been routinely dispatched in the past also stopped patrolling and stayed in the camp one by one and fell asleep.

The military discipline of the Eight Banners is very strict, and if there is no order, the soldiers must return to their own battalions, and it is forbidden to move around at will, let alone drink and make noise.

In the heavy rain, the whole camp was silent, and even the green battalion soldiers with extremely poor military discipline were much more honest. Only in the south of the camp was sandwiched between the camp of the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion, and sobs were heard from time to time.

Fifty or sixty thousand captured civilians were held here, and they had no tents to shelter from the rain, so they had to stand up in the heavy rain, relying on the only oilcloth planks to build simple huts, but to no avail.

The cries of children and the sobs of women were all in one place, but they were muffled by the sound of the rain, and they could not be heard after a short distance.

Even so, no one dared to run, and the barracks of the Qing army were stationed all around, and the end of daring to escape was extremely miserable.

For several days, as cannon fodder for the Qing army, the captured civilians suffered heavy casualties, and the corpses of the dead civilians were littered with large pits a few miles outside the camp. Little did they know, however, that an even greater catastrophe was coming. But it's hard to say whether it's a disaster or an opportunity.