The Yuzhang Division and the Yongjia Division, the Jinhua Division and the Jiangdu Division, the Danyang Division and the Dalan Division of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Ming Army marched in parallel from the three areas of northern Anhui, the canal and the coast respectively, and the Huaibei defense line of the Qing court collapsed in just half a month, and the 40,000-strong Huaibei Green Battalion faced the Northern Expeditionary Force of the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming Army, which was in an absolute numerical advantage, and it can be said that they surrendered on hearing the wind.

Since the recovery of Huainan, the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming armies have been preparing for more than three years, and once launched, it will be the power of thunder. Relying on the strong strength and past achievements of the Ming Army in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Huaibei, the green battalions that lacked enough control of the Eight Banners Army in Huaibei turned against each other. In the final analysis, this is no different from the way they thought when they descended to the Qing Dynasty - the enemy is too strong, since they can't beat it, then join it, it's as simple as that.

"Our department swept through Huaibei, and now the vanguard has entered the boundary of Shandong, and this Northern Expedition is indeed more smooth than expected."

In the early years, the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming armies were still able to fight and win when their strength was at a disadvantage, and now the overall strength is second to none, especially in recent years, the battles between the feudal soldiers of Shang Geng and the Second Domain and the Great Western Army of the Qin Domain are often crushing battles, and there is inevitably optimism and even inflated emotions in the army.

This Northern Expedition, even if it was a skirmish battle with the Huaibei territory, even the conflict in Xuzhou was a battle between the Green Battalion and the Eight Banners Army, and the Ming Army in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Zhejiang did not have a single casualty, and the situation was very good.

The generals and staff officers under his command were all optimistic, and Chen Wen also smiled slightly, and then said: "The lifeline of the Imperial Court lies in the fact that their core population is too scarce, and their limited human resources can only be poured into the new army. In Huaibei, although this is the only way for the Northern Expeditionary Army, it is still unable to provide more Eight Banners Army to contain it, and the only way to use the Green Battalion as cannon fodder is to use it. However, most of the green battalions were originally the old Ming army that had surrendered to the Tartars, and since they were able to shave their hair and reduce their cleanliness, they could naturally turn against each other. The Huaibei defense line seems ridiculous, but in fact, the key is that the problem of the core population has led to the restriction of the strategic layout. ”

When Chen Wen said this, as the chief of the Planning Section of the General Staff Department of the Army, Zhang Gongyan asked Chen Wen on behalf of everyone: "Then according to the meaning of His Royal Highness the Prison State, the next march will not be as easy as it is now?" ”

"Yes, the Tartars can give up Huaibei, and even Shandong. With the number of their core population, only when the new army breaks through the main force of our Northern Expeditionary Army can they take advantage of this to turn the tables. Otherwise, there would be no point in these places, even if they weren't lost so quickly. Only when there are people can there be a future to speak of. ”

………………

The Middle Route Army marched vigorously in Huaibei, and even began to encroach on Shandong, and on the other side of the Third Route Northern Expedition, the Fujian Division led by Zhang Zisheng, the king of Jiujiang County, and the Luling Division led by Hou Guoyuan, the Duke of Miao, set out from Xiangyang and Huangzhou respectively to attack the border of Henan.

Nanyang Mansion and Ruyang Mansion in the south of Henan have been in communication with the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming armies for many years, and the two soldiers have taken the capital city and the county seat along the way without blood.

When Chen Wen arrived at the important town of Xuzhou and continued to march north along the canal and coastal routes into the Shandong boundary, the two main forces of the Western Route Army had just completed their assembly in Shangcai County, north of Runing Prefecture, and planned to go north to Kaifeng Fucheng through Yuncheng and Xuzhou. As long as Kaifeng was recovered and the Ming army in northern Anhui cooperated to take the Guide Mansion, the Western Route Army relied on the actual occupation of the prefectures and counties of these four prefectures to compress the superior cavalry of the Qing army and interspersed the roads of Henan and northern Anhui.

As for the northwest of Henan, and even Shaanxi and Shanxi, it is completely possible to wait for the Middle Route Army to break through the main force of the Qing army before slowly plotting it, and it is estimated that it will be normal to pass on the news at that time.

However, the troops of the two divisions had a lot of troops, and together there were more than 2,000 cavalry, but in such a large area, in the face of the 5,000 cavalry specially organized by the Qing court from the National Security Department of the Henan Admiralty Line, and with the cavalry of the Green Battalion in northern Henan, it was not at all something that this Western Route Army could handle.

In the process of capturing these two provinces, although there were local green camps anyway, they were still harassed by several small-scale attacks. Now the army is converging, preparing to go north to Kaifeng, according to the horse exploration report, the number of cavalry of the Qing army is also increasing, and the battle is not afraid, but the grain road is important, these two provinces also have a lot of county towns have not been recovered, and the local green battalion is not all attached, if it merges with these Qing cavalry, it will become a disaster.

"Line Guoan, this dog traitor, I heard someone from the Military Intelligence Department say that this guy doesn't eat oil and salt, he doesn't eat soft and hard, he sent the lobbyist to the court before, and now he harasses us wholeheartedly, he is even more loyal to the court than a real tartar."

Compared with Zhang Zisheng, Hou Guoyuan's troops were far more attacked and harassed, and he hated this old general of the Dingnan Domain.

Seeing that the deputy commander of the Western Route Army was like this, Zhang Zisheng, as the commander, could only say something to appease: "It is better to attack us than for them to go to Huaibei to make trouble." Our Western Route Army was originally a partial division, and it was enough to take the southern and eastern parts of Henan according to the plan, compress the action space of the Tartar cavalry, and create better conditions for the Central Route Army to go north. Now that half of the strategic goals have been achieved, and the rest is still with Wu Shuai's cooperation, there is always a chance. ”

"What Zhang Shuai said is that the last general is just complaining."

Hou Guoyuan sighed, but his sorrowful brow was still not alleviated because of this: "Before you came, the last general just got the news that the people in Henan Mansion and Kaifeng Mansion of the Military Intelligence Department have found out that since the beginning of the Northern Expedition, the Tartars have been transferred from Shaanxi to garrison the Eight Banners, and a large number of Mongolian Tartars have been recruited from Monan Mongolia, and some of them are going to make trouble for us in Henan. ”

The news was sent from the north of Henan, although it was still the territory of a province, but it was not the territory of the Ming army in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and other factors, coupled with factors such as the road, the intelligence was already delayed. The news has just arrived, but it is not clear that now these Qing army reinforcements have entered the border of Henan, and they happened to meet when they went north to Kaifeng.

The number of cavalry has never been superior, which has always existed in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming armies. Jiangsu and Zhejiang are not good horse breeding grounds, nor do they produce war horses, as far as the south is concerned, Yunnan horses are also more suitable for mountain warfare, and their shoulder height is really a big disadvantage in the face of Mongolian horses.

In this Northern Expedition, the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming armies concentrated a large number of high-quality war horses to train the elderly guard divisions, and the ten divisions participating in the Northern Expedition were also fully equipped, and even the local garrisons also trained some cavalry units to cooperate with the maintenance of order in the newly occupied areas in the north.

What Hou Guoyuan mentioned, Zhang Zisheng had just arrived and was still familiar with the situation, but after hearing these words, Zhang Zisheng's brows couldn't help frowning.

He is not young, and he is the oldest military general in the military and political group of the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming Army. After fighting in Jiangxi for many years, and later following Chen Wen, he really saw the hope of driving the Tartars out of China. For this hope, and in order to fulfill the wishes of Governor Jie, Fu Shilang, Brother Hong, Brother Cao, and Brother Li who died in Jiangxi, now the wish come true is just around the corner, but the Qing court is not a complete disadvantage, so that even Zhang Zisheng is anxious.

"It's difficult for us, it's even more difficult for His Highness the Prison State, where the main force of the Tartars is, Huaibei is okay, and the Tartar cavalry in Shandong and Zhili is only afraid that there are a lot."

The two of them said, and they came to the sand table, and discussed the next action time, route and other situations according to the intelligence, but this Henan territory is called a horse and a flat river, and a large plain area is really an excellent combat area for cavalry, not at all like the dense mountains and forests of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the water network is vertical and horizontal, which is really a big challenge for the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming armies, which are accustomed to fighting in the south, especially for them.

The Fujian Division has just arrived, and it still needs time to repair, Zhang Zisheng and Hou Guoyuan gathered the staff officers of the two divisions, and planned a lot, but there are so many chips in their hands, and the firearms of the Ming army in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Zhejiang are increasing day by day, in addition to grain and grass, a large amount of gunpowder must be transported, once it is attacked, if it cannot be properly dealt with, it is more likely to cause greater losses, there is really no way.

Although the Western Route Army only acted on its own in the general strategic direction, it also had to cooperate with the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army in Huaibei, so it had to send troops head-on.

The army left Shangcai County, passed through Xiping, passed through Yuncheng, and when it reached Linying, it had been harassed several times, and its advance was slowed down a lot. Especially after entering the boundary of Kaifeng Prefecture, the cavalry of the Qing army under the banner of Henan was always hovering on the left, and from time to time they would come over to interfere with one or two. However, the cavalry of the Western Route Army was limited in number, and it was even more overstretched when dispersed, and it was even more unthinkable to expel them.

"I've walked less than thirty miles today, and I haven't been so abrasive since I entered Jinhua Mansion."

The raids slowed the march, and as the army moved deeper into the hinterland of Henan, the Qing cavalry raids became more frequent. As far as the results are concerned, the injuries are not fundamental, but the marching speed of the army has been greatly reduced, especially the safety of the grain routes, which involves most of the energy of this Western Route Army.

"There are more and more cavalry of the Tartars, and by tomorrow, it is difficult to say whether twenty miles can be guaranteed. Now there are two roads, one is to stand by in place, waiting for the official and garrison arrangements of Nanyang Mansion and Runing Mansion to be completed, and the military storage base to move forward; The other is to carry enough military food and grass, and the army will go straight to Kaifeng Mansion to kill it, and if there is anything to take Kaifeng, let's talk about it. ”

Zhang Zisheng's two plans are not very realistic in the final analysis. The former seriously slowed down the journey, which was exactly what the Tartars were willing to see, and was even more detrimental to the advance of the Middle Route Army; The latter needs to stock up on sufficient military rations and grass, and the more they are, the more they need to be protected by a large army, not to mention that this does not solve the problem of being constantly disturbed and slowing down the journey, even after taking Kaifeng.

From Linying County to Kaifeng Fucheng, the two places are separated by no less than 2560 miles, and many rivers have to be crossed in between, and if the army advances at a speed of 20 miles a day, it will take more than half a month, or even a month. And after more than half a month, it was not possible to take Kaifeng and Guide for a long time, and the advance pace of the Ming army in northern Anhui was only afraid that it would also be affected.

The two of them were worried, and a herald arrived, bringing a young general who was wearing a python robe and jade belt. This young general, Zhang Zisheng and Hou Guoyuan have never seen it, but with the introduction of the herald, Zhang Zisheng suddenly remembered something, and even vaguely saw the hope of getting out of this predicament a little.

"Didn't Duke Linguo bring the army over?"

Zhang Zisheng is the king of the county, and he is the commander of the Western Route Army, and he is not even worse than Li Guo, his father-in-law Li Guo, who has passed away for many years. Zhang Zisheng had this question here, and Li Laiheng, the Duke of Linguo, hurriedly replied: "Back to Zhang Shuai, the last general will be ordered by His Royal Highness to lead the cavalry of the headquarters to serve the order, but the road is far away, and the soldiers under his command are still repairing in Runing Mansion, and they will arrive in front of the army in a few days." ”

Chen Wen accepted the canonization of the prison state, and gave two orders to those feudal towns who went to Nanjing to show their loyalty, one was that they were strictly forbidden to enter other defense areas; The second is those who intend to participate in the Northern Expedition, but the elite of the headquarters can serve in front of the army.

Li Laiheng's town guard is in Xuzhou Mansion in Sichuan, and he came in a hurry, and he was able to catch up with the front of the generals in Sichuan because of his trust in the combat effectiveness of Li Laiheng's department, and he was full of satisfaction and wanted to take advantage of this to make a good start, and he would gain a foothold in the new dynasty in the future. Li Laiheng led his troops to come, all of them were cavalry, and they went down the Yangtze River before, and after arriving in Wuchang, they went north, the people were okay, and the war horses always needed some time, otherwise they would go into battle, and the bad state would also affect the combat effectiveness.

"In that case, let's repair here for a few days, and wait for Linguogong's subordinates to arrive before heading north."

"This?"

The trip has been delayed, and Hou Guoyuan was a little hesitant about Zhang Zisheng's proposal, but Zhang Zisheng was full of confidence in it: "Sharpen the knife and cut the wood, the old man can trust the subordinates of Linguogong." ”

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