After Li Ming gave the order, he waved his hand at Lin Hua and said, "Send the telegram immediately......" Listening to Li Ming's words, Lin Hua nodded and turned around to send a telegram, but was stopped by Li Ming again.

"You send another telegram to the Admiralty, tell him in detail about the situation encountered by the Yangtze River Fleet of the Southern Corps, and ask the Admiralty to organize forces to reinforce the Yangtze River Fleet as much as possible."

After Li Ming finished speaking, he smiled bitterly and shook his head, this battle was fought, the battle situation on the main battlefield was so smooth, who would have thought that the Southern Corps would encounter a problem.

Song Tao smiled and said, "Big brother, ...... north of the Yangtze River?"

Li Ming glared and said: "What's the urgency in Jiangbei, the key is the grain in Jiangnan." I just want to empty the grain in the south of the Yangtze River, Lao Tzu only needs food, who stops me and who is in a hurry. ”

Report ......

At this time, a staff officer ran in from outside and reported loudly to Li Ming.

Li Ming turned his head to look at the other party, and the staff officer hurriedly shouted: "I just received a telegram that the airship that Commander Gao and several other members of the Standing Committee of the Board of Directors were riding was about to land. ”

After listening to the other party's words, Li Ming turned his head to Song Tao and smiled: "I was about to send a telegram to Lao Gao, and they came." Let's go...... I'm going to meet you. ”

Gao Jianguo, Qiao Jianguo, Wang He and others stepped off the airship one after another. When Gao Jianguo saw Li Ming and Song Tao, he laughed and said: "We are here to offer condolences to the troops, and it is up to you to decide how the battle will be fought." ”

Song Tao laughed and said, "Pull it down, you old guys must not be able to sit still." ”

Wang He pointed at Song Tao and scolded with a smile: "Don't say it, this kid really knows our ......."

Qiao Haipeng also smiled and said: "The company has been preparing for more than ten years, isn't it today, anyway, I can't sleep these days." ”

Everyone laughed out loud when they heard what he said.

Li Ming led everyone to the war room of the headquarters, and asked Lin Hua to give a detailed introduction to the Central Plains Campaign to the various Standing Committee members. When everyone heard the news that the Yangtze River Fleet had seized a large amount of grain in the south of the Yangtze River, they were all very excited.

When the company became the owner of the Central Plains, the most important strategic material was food. Feeding countless people in the Central Plains and Jiangbei is the primary task facing Far Eastern Group.

Wang He said with a solemn face: "Li Ming, we must transport the grain seized from Jiangnan to Jiangbei, the company's current reserve of grain is a lot, but it won't last a few months." ”

Qiao Haipeng also said in a deep voice: "I will send a telegram to the Admiralty, let them pay full attention to it, and quickly organize forces to reinforce the Yangtze River Fleet." It really didn't work, so Lao Tzu let all the sea boats sail into the Yangtze River. ”

Gao Jianguo was even more anxious, he stood up and walked back and forth in the headquarters, saying as he walked: "No, we shouldn't sit here, let's go to the Yangtze River Fleet to have a look, or Lao Tzu will not worry." ”

Li Ming nodded and said, "I also want to go with Song Tao, since you are here, then let's go together." ”

With Li Ming's order, the Yellow River Fleet, the Canal Fleet, and the ships of the Eastern Corps Landing Fleet all sailed south along the river in Daming, entering the mouth of the Yangtze River and entering the Yangtze River waterway. The Admiralty's hundreds of warships waiting for an opportunity along the coast of Daming also took anchor one after another and slowly headed for the mouth of the Yangtze River.

For a time, the estuary of the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal were gathered, and countless sailboats, inland steam deck barges and inland river sailing ships sailed into the Yangtze River.

At the same time, the landing force in Jiangbei also stopped the offensive one after another, leaving only a few troops to garrison the occupied areas, and the rest of the troops all went south to support the Yangtze River Fleet's plan to plunder Jiangnan.

At present, among the Yangtze River Fleet of the Southern Corps, because the First Fleet is located in Huguang, their task is the heaviest.

In the Ming Dynasty, the amount of grain exported from Hunan was quite large, such as the fourth year of Xuande, "the resumption of the transportation method made Jiangxi, Huguang, and Zhejiang people transport 2.2 million stones of grain in Huai'an Warehouse." Another example is the eight years of Chenghua, a total of 4 million stones of grain were transported to Beijing across the country, of which more than 3240,000 stones were "southern grain" in Huguang, Jiangxi and other places, accounting for the vast majority.

The task of controlling the Jiangxi River of the Second Fleet is not easy, and Jiangxi in the Ming Dynasty has always been a large province of grain, but the annual tax grain is second only to Huguang and more than Zhejiang.

The Third Fleet is in the Nanzhili area, although it is no longer "Su Changshu, the world is full", but with the increase in grain prices in the Ming Dynasty year by year, the grain merchants in the Su Chang area have also increased several times. It is also a heavy place for grain hoarding in the Ming Dynasty, and various official warehouses are all over the canal. Moreover, the Suchang area is also the most prosperous economic area in the Ming Dynasty, and the grain production and marketing center of the Ming Dynasty is also in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

With the Yellow River Fleet, the Canal Fleet, and the Eastern Corps Landing Fleet, as well as the Admiralty's maritime forces, one after another, moved south. The shortage of ships in the Yangtze River Fleet has been greatly alleviated.

A large number of Far Eastern Army, on river engine sailing ships and river steam deck barges, wreaked havoc in the area south of the Yangtze River with a dense water network, and the entire Daming Jiangnan region suddenly fell into chaos.

Fortunately, the Far Eastern Army was highly disciplined, and only plundered official warehouses and wealthy households, and did not commit any crimes against ordinary people and small households. After a period of time, the people in Jiangnan gradually ceased to be afraid, and many low-level people were hired by the Far East Army to help the Far East Company carry grain and other materials.

After all, the Far Eastern Army is short of personnel, so the troops simply hire low-level people in the local area, and each person can get a certain amount of food for a day's work, and cash it directly at the end of the day, and also provide a full meal at noon.

Therefore, at the beginning, the Far Eastern Army still adopted the method of forcibly requisitioning labor, but after only one day of implementation of this policy, a large number of ordinary people rushed to help the Far Eastern Army carry grain and other materials.

However, the gentry groups and wealthy merchants in Jiangnan suffered, because the price of grain increased year by year, and almost every one of them did some grain business, and even if they didn't, they all hoarded grain to make a fortune.

Unexpectedly, the Far Eastern Army directly slaughtered the Jiangnan and plundered the grain hoarded by the official warehouses and gentry groups in various places. In recent years, these gentry officials, local tyrants, landlords, and large businessmen in the Jiangnan region have taken advantage of the drought in the north for many years to raise grain prices and have been hoarding grain in an attempt to make a lot of money.

Who would have thought that their years of hard work would be robbed of all by the Far Eastern Army. Especially in Jiangsu, Changjiang, and Zhejiang, almost every big household is engaged in grain business, and this time they all lost their money.

The Far Eastern Army entered the south of the Yangtze River, the city of Nanjing was completely chaotic, the Ming army was relaxed, and the army had long been rotten. Especially the Ming army in the south of the Yangtze River, the combat power is even more unbearable. Before the Far Eastern Army arrived, the Ming troops in various places dispersed in a hurry. The defenders of Nanjing were even more single, and as soon as the Far Eastern Army crossed the river, most of the defenders fled, and the whole Nanjing was like an empty city.

The defenders and officials of Nanjing wanted to leave the city and surrender, but they found that the Far Eastern Army had not attacked Nanjing. Just looting in the bustling areas around Nanjing. Although the garrison of Nanjing City was empty, the Far Eastern Army turned a blind eye to the city of Nanjing, which was won by hand. (To be continued.) )