Huai'an City, Yangzhou City, Suzhou City, Hangzhou City, and the four towns on the Grand Canal, that is, the so-called "Huaiyang, Suzhou and Hangzhou", refers to Huai'an City, which is also the birthplace of Huaiyang cuisine. Crossing the city of Huai'an to the north, you will arrive at the north where you eat noodles and use the Qilu language. The ancient city of Huai'an is dominated by rice, and it is an important city dividing the north and south.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Huai'an also became the dividing point between the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Shenwu Imperial Court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, where many high-ranking officials such as the governor of the six provinces of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the governor of Jiangnan, and the general army of Jiangnan were stationed, as well as 150,000 heavy soldiers transferred from Shandong and Henan. Of course, these 150,000 soldiers were all scraped together by Hong Chengchou after he fled to Huai'an. In order to maintain these 150,000 people, Hong Chengchou has collected all the counties around Huai'an in recent years, and the people have no food at all, and they are starving everywhere.

Huai'an City was built in Zhengde three years, rebuilt on the basis of the ancient city of the Song Dynasty, although the city wall is high and deep, but compared with Yangzhou, the north and south of the two capitals is still not enough to see. At the same time, Huai'an is located in the canal, which is just the intersection of the Yellow River waterway and the canal waterway, and the small gunboats of the Ming army can shoot directly at close range, so although there are many soldiers in the city, the civil and military officials who defend the city are not optimistic about the prospects of defending the city.

Hong Chengchou originally thought that if he was given a year, he would be able to equalize Yangzhou's army, but Hong Chengchou forgot to calculate the economic strength of both sides. The Shenwu regime that occupied Nanzhili and Zhejiang was not at all financially comparable to that of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and with the financial support of China's rich lands, coupled with the demographic structure of the south, which had not lost much, the Shenwu regime was expanding the new army at a rate of two divisions per year.

However, Hong Chengchou has been eager to scrape the ground in the past three years, and it is not easy for Henan and Shandong, which are already in dilapidation, to raise enough troops for 150,000 troops. Although the number is similar to that of the Ming army opposite, the quality is much worse. The Ming army was in the prime of life from 18 to 30, and the Qing army was from 12 to 60 years old. The Ming army is equipped with a full set of equipment as standard, from muskets to bayonets, from socks to military caps, and only more than 10,000 elites on the Qing army have complete military uniforms and weapons. Not to mention that these people are against the elite Ming army, it is not certain whether they can beat the previous guards.

But Hong Chengchou couldn't help it, except for Shaanxi and Nanzhili, which had some grain in the Manchu-controlled area, all other provinces were like this. Hong Chengchou has sent many documents to the Manchu court asking for help, but what he is waiting for is nothing more than a holy decree from the central government, so that Hong Chengchou can solve it locally.

If five years ago, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty first occupied Nanzhili, Huai'an and Shandong and other places were still relatively good, and most of the two Huai salt farms were in the hands of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, although the salt produced could not be compared with the refined salt of Guangdong, but it was cheaper. However, after the Shenwu court occupied Yangzhou, most of the Lianghuai salt farms were occupied by the Ming army, and even the nineteen salt farms under the jurisdiction of the Shandong Metropolitan Salt Envoy were also destroyed by the Ming army's sailors. Not to mention the grain, the poor in Henan eat human flesh, and although Shandong is stronger, it is about the same.

It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, Hong Chengchou has worked hard in the past three years to finally get together enough for these 150,000 people, which is already all.

After learning that Emperor Shenwu had sworn in the Northern Expedition in Nanjing, Hong Chengchou convened a plenary meeting at the Governor's Yamen of Huai'an, which was attended by officials of all sizes in Huai'an. At the meeting, when these officials knew that the Southern Ming and Northern Expeditions were imminent, they were silent one by one, and they all made their own small calculations.

Zhou Boda, the governor of Jiangning, was the biggest official position except for Hong Chengchou, and when he saw that all the officials were in a low mood, he stood up and said, "Colleagues! Now the army of Nanming is in front of us, it is the time for you and me to serve the saint, I Zhou Boda swear here, the city is here, I am here, the city is dead, I am dead! ”

Zhou Boda also can't help it, his family is all in Beijing, not to say that, the whole family will fall to the ground the next day, but other middle-level officials are not so loyal. A large number of middle-level officials in Huai'an were originally locals, and many of them were local gentry, so these guys don't care about your emperor, as long as they ensure their lives.

Hong Chengchou saw that the meeting would be like this, stood up and said: "I hope everyone will inspire Tianliang and repay Jun's grace!" The governor knows that the Ming army is powerful, but don't complain that the governor doesn't talk about human feelings! Alright, adjournment! ”

Ma Degong is Hong Chengchou's henchman, and after seeing the big and small officials leaving, he asked in a low voice: "Lord Taiwan, these guys sighed one by one, don't they want to sacrifice the city to the enemy?" ”

Hong Chengchou smiled bitterly: "Hmph! Not to mention these guys, even Zhou Boda probably also had the idea of surrendering! ”

Ma Degong saw Zhou Boda's impassioned appearance just now, but he really didn't expect such a thick-eyed guy to also think about betraying the revolution?

"Can't it, Lord Zhou's whole family is in Jingshi, does he dare to do this?"

"What is the family, but the wife can be found again, and the son can be reborn! Zhou Boda is a ten-year jinshi in Chongzhen, and Ma Mingyuan, the first assistant of the Shenwu Imperial Court, is in the same department, and having this relationship can basically protect his life, maybe he can be retained in his original position! ”

Ma Degong heard that Zhou Boda's relationship was so hard, his heart turned rapidly, and he asked in a low voice: "Lord Taiwan, where are we... "Ma Degong's meaning is obvious, now the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been stormy, it is really not a good place, as the saying goes, there is no place to raise a master here, it is better to open the door and vote for the Ming army.

It is understandable for Ma Degong to think so, the generals in the late Ming Dynasty did not recognize the words, so naturally they could not be restrained by any loyal thoughts. But Hong Chengchou is not an illiterate Qiu Ba, Lord Hong was born in two lists, he is a three-have official with ideals, morality and bottom line, so can he be as capricious as Ma Degong?

Hong Chengchou said firmly: "This official is not ready to surrender, he has already been a second minister in Liaodong, do you still want this official to do it once?" ”

Ma Degong was a little speechless when he heard Hong Chengchou say this, whether Lord Hong was stupid to read, no matter how many times he surrendered, as long as he could live, everything would be possible.

"Lord Tsukidai... Ma Degong was just about to speak, when Hong Chengchou shook his hand and interrupted Ma Degong's persuasion.

"Mr. Ma, in a while, you will bring the warrant of the governor and bring the 10,000 elite soldiers in the city to Jinan, and in the past few years, the governor has put half of the grain and grass in Jinan, where he will have a final battle with the Shenwu Imperial Court!"

Jinan is the barrier of Beijing, Jinan is also the central city of Shandong Province, in the heart of Shandong, and at the same time only more than 200 miles away from Dongchangfu, the most important transit point on the Grand Canal. The Ming army had powerful firearms, and it was absolutely impossible to expose its supply lines to the enemy, so Jinan was an important place for the Ming army to fight for.

Hong Chengchou had planned three years ago, he knew that Huai'an was too close to Yangzhou, and it was on the edge of the canal, and the city wall was not heavy, so Huai'an must not be held here. But Jinan is different, the city wall of Jinan was built in Hongwu four years, after more than 200 years of the Ming Dynasty six large-scale construction, now has become a solid defense system not inferior to the north and south of the two capitals.

Hong Chengchou took out a letter from his body and handed it to Ma Degong: "General Ma, at this time, the autographed letter handed over by the governor to the queen mother, what to do next is here!" Now you take advantage of the fact that the Ming army has not yet arrived, hurry up and take people out of the city! ”

Ma Degong saw that Hong Chengchou had decided to stay and wait for death, so he didn't pretentious, knelt down and kowtowed to Hong Chengchou, and then went out to organize the team to set off.

Huai'an City is so big, 10,000 people transferred quickly spread throughout the city, and now the Ming army is in Yangzhou, and Governor Hong also transferred the elite soldiers, which immediately made the big and small officials panic. At this time, many people had secretly contacted the Ming army in Yangzhou and were preparing to surrender in Kaicheng, but the Manchu Qing spies under Hong Chengchou were not vegetarians, and they caught a few officials who were eating inside and out, and finally suppressed the discussion in the city with their heads.

The Manchu Qing and the Southern Ming Dynasty were bounded by Zhangjiagou on the canal, the Gaoyou Prefecture in the south belonged to the Southern Ming, and the treasure in the north should belong to the Manchu Qing. The magistrate of Baoying County has received Hong Chengchou's death order and told him to stick to the end. But after the order was given, the magistrate saw the dense Ming army outside the city and the ships on the canal, and he had already forgotten Governor Hong's order and immediately opened the city and surrendered.

Zhu Hongsan waved the banner of expelling the Tartars, and naturally ruthlessly cleaned up the Manchurians, and several officials of the Eight Banners who shaved their heads in Baoying City, regardless of whether they were regular Manchurian Eight Banners or Mongolian Eight Banners, as long as they looked different from the Han people, all the whole family was beheaded, and their heads were hung on the city gate. As for the Baoying County Commander who surrendered, Zhu Hongsan gave him a task to send a letter to Hong Chengchou in Huai'an City, telling Hong Chengchou that he could not blame the past and let him open the city and surrender.

Hong Chengchou read Zhu Hongsan's letter and laughed: "I, Hong Xiangjiu, led the troops to fight in the second year of Chongzhen, and I didn't succeed in dealing with the rogue!" The defeat in Liaodong should have been killed, but Emperor Taizong asked Xiang Jiu for warmth, which made Xiang Jiu grateful. After entering the customs, the queen mother and the regent did not think that Xiangjiu was born as a minister, and appointed Xiangjiu as the governor of the six provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. This time, I will use my remnants to serve the Queen Mother and Her Majesty! ”

After Hong Chengchou finished speaking, he said to the Baoying County Order: "Since you came to send a letter of persuasion today, you just use your head to sacrifice the flag to see how the governor can break the Ming army!" ”

That Baoying County Commander heard that Hong Chengchou was going to cut off his head, and peed his pants in fright, and at the same time regretted this in his heart, he knew that it was better to resign and run away, how to say that he could save his life!

Zhu Hongsan and the second division of the forward Zhao Guodong have come to Huai'an City, and they are waiting for news from the city. According to Zhu Hongsan's estimation, Hong Chengchou is already a second minister anyway, and he will definitely be able to be a third minister, but who would have thought that after half a ring, a thing was thrown down from the city, and a soldier stepped forward to retrieve it, and it was the head of the Baoxing County Commander who entered the city.

Zhu Hongsan sneered when he learned about it: "It seems that Hong Chengchou is ready to be loyal to the new master!" Dog, it's up to you! ”