When Xia Guoxiang and Geng Jingzhong, two honorary friendly armies, were advancing towards Jiangnan with red eyes, the main force of the Qing Southern Expedition without hindrance, the 120,000 Mites Qing army led by Yue Le, arrived at the Xiba Ferry of the Yellow River in Qinghe County, Jiangsu Province on the twenty-second day of the twelfth month of the thirteenth year of Kang Mazi, and was less than 100 miles away from Baoying County, the northernmost part of the control of the Fat Army. [Full text reading]

Because of the lack of control of the enemy's situation, Yue Le, who was cautious in using troops, did not rush to cross the river, but urgently summoned Cai Shiying, the governor of the Han Dynasty and Yang Yingyao, the prefect of Huai'an City, to report the enemy situation to the Xiba Ferry. Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao didn't dare to slack off when they heard the order, and hurriedly left the garrison Wu Zhanyang to guard the city, and brought heavy gifts to the Xiba ferry to knock on them, but it was a pity that Yue Le was a more pragmatic character among the mite kings, and he didn't even look at the gifts offered by Cai Shiying and others, and as soon as they met, they split their heads and asked: "Wu Gou in the south, is there any change?" ”

"Back to the prince, the lower officials sent more scouts to investigate according to the prince's instructions, and found that Wu Gou had no other changes except for desperately strengthening the city defenses in various places." Cai Shiying replied respectfully.

"What about Hongze Lake?" Tuhai is concerned about another matter, "This year, the Yellow River burst its embankment in Henan and diverted its course into the Huai River in the upper reaches of Hongze Lake, and there must be a large amount of sediment rushing into Hongze Lake, what is the situation on the Gaojiayan side?" ”

"The situation in Gaojiayan is a bit serious." Cai Shiying replied honestly: "Since the beginning of the Shunzhi Dynasty, the Yellow River has burst every year, and the Yellow River water has invaded Hongze Lake many times, silted up the bottom of the lake, and broken the weir embankment many times. However, this year, the Yellow River burst into the sea, and a large amount of yellow sand rushed into Hongze Lake, and the water level of the lake rose by more than one zhang at once, and the Gaojiayan, which had been in disrepair for a long time, was washed out of two openings, flooding a lot of fertile land, and also causing a serious reduction in Huai'an's grain output this year. ”

"Lu Yifeng dog thief!" Tu Hai scolded, "No wonder this slippery dog thief refuses to take Huai'an and defend it by the river, he must have discovered the danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake, and would rather not want Huai'an Mansion or the Yellow River defense line than take this danger!" ”

"Prince An and Master Tu, please rest assured." Yang Yingyao, the prefect of Huai'an, who was the same as Cai Shiying, was a person from the white flag of the Han Dynasty, hurriedly spoke, and said with a flattering face: "It's winter, there is little water upstream from Hongze Lake, and the lake level has dropped a lot. ”

"Be careful." Yue Le turned to Tuhai and instructed: "Master Tu, you are careful, tomorrow you will take a few water control officials from the Ministry of Industry and personally go to Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake to make sure that there is no danger before deciding whether to cross the river." ”

"Pierce." Tu Hai agreed, and Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao, the two Han Annihilation Banner people, looked at each other, and said in their hearts that it is difficult for our Lord An to deal with Master Tu, and even our report is not credulous, and we have to go to see it in person, it seems that in the future, we will work together with them to suppress the thieves, and there will be a period of bitterness.

Next, Yue Le had to ask Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao about the situation in Huai'an City, mainly the soldiers, horses, grain and grass in Huai'an City, and the situation of the Fat Army in Yangzhou Mansion south of Huai'an. Cai Yang and the others truthfully reported that there were about 4,000 troops in Huai'an City, and about 2,000 Xiangyong militia could participate in the war, but because the diversion of the Yellow River affected the Hongze Lake breach, Huai'an's grain production was reduced, and in addition to the grain that was handed over to the Mites Qing treasury before, there were only more than 50,000 stone grain in the city, barely enough for the local army in Huai'an to support the autumn harvest next year, and it was really unable to prepare grain and grass for Yue Le.

As for the garrison of the Fat Army in Yangzhou Prefecture, Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao don't know much, they only know that the Fat Army has heavy troops stationed in Yangzhou City and Zhenjiang, but the specific number of troops is not very clear, the only thing that completely understands the situation is the Fat Army of Baoying County, which is closest to Huai'an, and there are only about 2,000 Fat Army garrisons in Baoying County, and most of them are composed of refugees from the Yellow Flood Area recruited before, and their combat effectiveness is not very strong. In addition, Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao also have an accurate intelligence, that is, the military rations of the Fat Army in Baoying City are not much, and they are supplied by the Gaoyou granary once a month.

Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao, the two battlefield junior brothers, thought that Lu Fatzi didn't pay enough attention to Baoying, but when they heard Yue Le and Tu Hai's ears, they made these two battlefield old sparrows shiver together, and said together: "Damn Lu Yifeng dog thief!" Baoying's army is definitely a lure army, deliberately showing the enemy to be false, luring our army to cross the river to the south and step into his ambush circle! Can't be fooled, never again! ”

In the early morning of the next day, Tuhai really led a group of water control experts from the Ministry of Mites and Qing Engineering to cross the river to Hongze Lake to explore the terrain, and found that the situation was indeed in Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao's words, after the Yellow River was diverted from the upper reaches of Hongze Lake to the sea in the first half of the year, the sediment accumulation situation in Hongze Lake was indeed very serious, and now although there is less water in winter, the danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake has been reduced, but the lake level is still more than two zhang above the ground - that is to say, once the main force of the Qing army crosses the river into the North Jiangsu Plain in Huai'an, As long as the wolf-hearted and dog-hearted Lu Fat Man digs up and blows up Gaojiayan, the 120,000 Qing army will still be fed to the fish and the king!

Tu Hai returned to the Xiba ferry to report the survey to Yue Le, and that night, Yue Le once again convened the heavy generals in the army to discuss the military situation - of course, those straw bags Meng annihilated the prince, Yue Le said that he would not let them participate in the military situation anymore. At the military meeting, after Yue Le briefly introduced the garrison of the Fat Man Army and the hidden danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake, Dong Weiguo, Lai Ta, Mu Zhan and Shang Shan and several other old friends of Lu Fatzi all opposed the risk of crossing the river in unison, and even more invariably decided that the army arranged by Lu Fatzi in Baoying was just a lure army, the purpose of which was just to induce the Southern Expeditionary Qing Army to go deep into the south of the Yangtze River, and then break it with conspiracy and tricks!

There's no way, Dong Weiguo, who was killed by Fat Lu, is an unlucky guy who knows Fat Lu's ruthlessness and unscrupulous means too well! As long as it is a lack of morality that can kill hundreds of thousands of Qing soldiers, not to mention flooding half of Huai'an Mansion, even if it is flooding half of Jiangsu, Lu Fatzi can definitely do it!

"Lord Wang, the slave thinks that our army should adjust the route of the army." Mu Zhan suggested: "If our army adjusts its march route, there are two ways to choose, one is to choose to cross the Yellow River from Taoyuan, take Sizhou to Chuzhou in the south, and directly attack the Yangtze River, and confront Lu Yifeng's main force in Jiangning across the river, looking for an opportunity to break the enemy." Second, our army went down the river to cross the river at the Dianhu ferry in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, taking Funing as a foothold in the south of the Yangtze River, avoiding the Yangzhou and Gaoyou defense lines where Lu Yifeng's dog thieves were heavily garrisoned, and directly threatening the hinterland of Dongtai and Rugao, where his troops were empty. ”

"I feel like I can choose the first path." Lai Ta echoed: "Crossing the river from Taoyuan can avoid the dangerous danger of Hongze Lake, and go south to Chuzhou through Sizhou, where you can join the army of Prince Kang in Chuzhou, and you can also echo with the army of Lebeile in the Tongling area south of the Yangtze River, and concentrate on a decisive battle with Lu Yifeng's dog thieves." ”

"And what about our food routes?" Yue Le glanced at Mu Zhan and Lai Ta, and snorted coldly: "The 120,000 army is directly on the Yangtze River in Chuzhou, and our grain and grass must land in Xuzhou, and we will have to travel more than a thousand miles by land to reach the army through Fengyang, how much more will the consumption be increased on the road?" Moreover, we have concentrated all our forces on the Western Front, and Lu Yifeng's dog thieves are not only easier to defend, but also likely to be attacked from both sides by the Wu Dog army from above, isn't it even more dangerous? ”

Mu Zhan and Lai Ta were speechless, and then they remembered this important issue, the loss of roads for transporting grain, grass and military supplies by land was far greater than that of waterways, and the Qing Dynasty, whose finances were already close to collapse, naturally could not afford such a huge waste.

"In this case, we have no choice but to cross the river at Tsukuda Lake." Dong Weiguo groaned: "When crossing the river at Dianhu Lake and landing in Funing, the grain and grass by waterway can be directly transported to Beisha Town on the south bank of Dianhu Lake, and then go to Funing by land for 20 miles. ”

Except for Yue Le and Tu Hai, the rest of the Qing army generals all nodded and echoed Dong Weiguo's opinion, until these people finished expressing their opinions, Yue Le turned his gaze to Tu Hai and asked, "Master Tu, what do you think?" ”

"According to the humble position, it is all the same." Tu Hai said in a flat tone: "It's the same to cross the river from there, and it's the same to choose that road to march the troops, anyway, you can't beat it, instead of wasting time and wasting food and grass on a long way, it's better to cross the river at this Xiba ferry." ”

"What does Master Tu mean is that you don't need to ignore the danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake and cross the river here directly?" Yue Le asked in surprise: "Lu Yifeng's dog thieves have not captured Huai'an Mansion so far, they must have discovered the danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake, our main force crossed the river to Huai'an Mansion and stationed, what if Lu Yifeng's dog thieves blew up Gaojiayan and flooded our army?" ”

"Lord An, why do you only think that the danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake is being used by Lu Yifeng's dog thieves?" Tu Hai was shocked and asked: "Why didn't the prince think that Lu Yifeng's dog thieves could take advantage of the danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake, why can't we take advantage of it?" ”

"Master Tu, do you want to use the old tricks you used in Jingzhou?" Shang Shan asked: "Deliberately crossed the river into the Yellow Flood Area, lured Wu Dog to attack Huai'an City, and then we took the opportunity to blow up Gaojiayan and flood Wu Gou's main force?" ”

"No!" Tu Hai shook his head firmly, and said in a deep voice: "This trick has been used once in Jingzhou, and that time Lu Yifeng's dog thief almost suffered a big loss, with his deceitful surname, he will not be fooled again if he says anything this time." If he really plans to attack our army by water, once the main force of our army crosses Hongze Lake, he will inevitably strike first and blow up Gaojiayan first! ”

"Why did Lord Natu suggest that the main force of our army cross the river here? It is also recommended to use the natural risk of Gaojiayan? Shang Shan asked puzzled.

"I didn't say that all the main forces crossed the river." Tu Hai smiled, and Yin Yin said: "I mean, anyway, we are fighting head-on on the battlefield, and we can't beat Wu Gou no matter what, so it's better to send part of the main force to cross the river, induce some of Wu Gou's main force to go north to face the battle, and then blow up Gaojiayan, so that some of our main force and Wu Gou's main force will die together!" ”

The big tent was silent, and the Qing generals who were present were all stained with Han blood on their hands, and all of them were beast butchers who killed people without blinking, and they were all stunned by Tuhai's crazy plan, and they couldn't say a word for a long time.

"You're all scared, aren't you?" Tu Hai glanced around at everyone present, and said with a sneer: "Maybe you all think I'm too crazy, and you also think I'm too unsurnamed, but don't you forget, is this army in our hands the opponent of Wu Gou?" Battlefield experience, weapons and equipment, morale and fighting spirit, military salaries, food and grass, isn't that the difference with Wu Gou 108,000 miles? Instead of letting them be slaughtered by Wu Dog on the battlefield, it is better to pull some Wu Dog and die with them! Even if we exchange 30,000 troops for 20,000 troops of Wu Dog, we will never suffer! ”

Yue Le and the others were still silent, and they didn't even dare to take a breath of air, and Tu Hai said lightly: "I said that the plan is here, no matter whether the prince and the generals adopt it or not, Tu Hai has no opinion." But what I want to remind the prince is that this is the only way we can win in the battlefield of northern Jiangsu, and apart from this method, I am really helpless. ”

After that, Tu Hai closed his mouth and didn't say a word again, and after the Qing army generals were terrified and calculated for a long time, Shang Shancai said in a hurry: "Although Lord Tu's idea is too ...... That's a little bit, but for our army, it's really the only chance to win. Otherwise, the army in our hands, no matter where it crosses the river or what route it takes, in the final analysis, there will be only one end, a fiasco! ”

"Still, that's too much." Dong Weiguo hesitated and said: "Jiangnan folk songs are all sung like this: Gaojiayan is down, and Huaiyang does not meet." It may be easy for us to blow up Gaojiayan, but it will be too difficult to deal with the aftermath. ”

"Maybe, maybe Gaojiayan will fall, and our Qing Dynasty will be without Huaiyang." Tu Hai said coldly: "But if we don't get rid of Lu Yifeng, the dog thief, we will definitely not even have a little scum." ”

Dong Weiguo had nothing to say, just turned his gaze to Yue Le, and everyone present also turned their eyes to Yue Le, waiting for his opinion, Yue Le's expression on his face changed, his eyes flickered, and after a long time, Yue Le hesitated and said: "Things haven't come to that point yet, our strategy of using thieves to control thieves has just begun, if this strategy can be effective, we don't need to implement such a poisonous trick that hurts heaven and peace." ”

"When the prince says so, the minions can only support them unconditionally." Tu Hai said helplessly: "Then let's do it, Lord Wang, the slave suggests that the main force of our army should not be busy crossing the river first, keep a wait-and-see for a while, and seize the time to train the army." In addition, please ask the prince to send a person to Anqing, get in touch with General Niyahan and Lebeile on the Western Front, and urge them to implement the plan to release water, let Wu Dog's Eastern Expeditionary Army enter the south of the Yangtze River, and kill Lu Yifeng's dog thieves. Otherwise, the orders you gave them before, my lord, they may not be able to prohibit them. ”

"Yes." Yue Le nodded and ordered: "Shang Belle, Master Tu, then you two should make a hard trip, go to Anqing to contact Niyahan and Leerjin, and urge them to deliberately release water, let Wu Dog enter Jiangnan, and kill Lu Yifeng dog thieves." Also, tell them that as long as they can let the Xia Guoxiang dog thieves kill into the south of the Yangtze River, all the blame for losing the city and land, this king will bear it! ”

"Pierce." Tuhai and Shang Shan agreed together, and Shang Shan asked again: "Lord Wang, where is Prince Kang?" Now that Wu Gou Ma Bao has retired from the army, and he has come to ask for war again, how does the prince plan to arrange him? King Kang's surname is strong, and he hates Wu Gou to the bone, I am afraid that he may not necessarily agree with Wang Ye's strategy of using thieves to control thieves. ”

"Bring me a written order to him." Yue Le replied: "Let him send troops to Chuzhou, and go to Chuzhou City to confront Lu Yifeng's thief Jiangning's army across the river, and wait for my next order, lest he make trouble again and ruin the king's plan." ”

"Pierce." Tu Hai and Shang Shan agreed again, and when they were about to end the meeting, Tu Hai said again, and said to Yue Le: "Lord Wang, when the minions go south, if you make up your mind, you can let the Mongolian cavalry go and die with the main force of Wu Gou." They are not very obedient, and they are all cavalry, and Wu Gou is definitely willing to invest money in them - in addition, the weakening of the Mongol army may not be a matter of joy for our master in the Qing Dynasty. ”

A cold light flashed in Yue Le's eyes, and he nodded slowly after a while, and Yin Yin said: "Of course this king understands this truth." ”

……………………

At about the same time in the city of Nanjing, Lu Fatzi, who was worried about the enemy from all sides, ushered in an uninvited guest, the envoy sent by Zeng Yang, the commander of the right route army of Geng Jingzhong's army, the general of Jingnan Wangfu, and a native of Zhangpu, Fujian - Huang Kun!

This Huang Kun is not very famous, but his brother Huang Yong is quite famous in the alliance of Wu Geng and Zheng - but he is all notorious. When Geng Jingzhong raised troops, he was worried that his prestige was too bad and his reputation was too bad to convince the public, so he sent Huang Yong and Huang Kun brothers to Taiwan to contact Zheng Jing, persuade Zheng Jing to send troops, and Geng Jingzhong joined forces to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, and promised to send Zheng Jing to Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Fujian Province as a foothold.

The bad thing is that Geng Jingzhong's messenger Huang Yong, Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing have just reached an alliance, and he immediately reported to Geng Jingzhong about the situation in Taiwan, and the extremely exaggerated depreciation of Taiwan's situation is rubble everywhere, thatched grass, the people have no overnight food, the soldiers have vegetables, the armor is not neat, and the ships are scattered and moored, and there are very few - of course, this is not all exaggeration, Zheng Jingtai, which has been blocked by the mite Qing and the sea for many years, is indeed on the verge of collapse, and it is definitely not as a certain coat said, You can easily take out a few million taels of silver to honor a certain lord, and it is not as prosperous and rich as Taiwan in the Later Qing Dynasty.

Huang Yong even persuaded Geng Jingzhong not to fulfill his promise to give Quanzhou and Zhangzhou to Zheng Jing as a foothold on the mainland, and instigated Geng Jingzhong to continue to implement the relocation and sea ban, continue to blockade Taiwan's economy, break the alliance with Zheng Jing, and prevent Zheng Jing from landing by force. As a result, coupled with the sowing of discord by Geng Jingzhong's cronies Liu Yan's brothers, Geng Jingzhong, who also had his head in water, really wrote to Zheng Jing to break the contract, forbid Zheng Jing to land, and sever the alliance with Zheng Jing! Zheng Jing was furious, and also angered Zhao Desheng, the general of Haicheng who was really anti-Qing and restored to the Ming Dynasty (appears in chapter 231 of this book), and in anger, Zhao Desheng contacted the generals in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou to meet the successful landing of Zheng Jing's army, and Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing also turned against each other. Later, it was Wu Lao Hanjian who personally came forward to mediate the conflict between Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing, so that Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing were bounded by Fengting and were not allowed to violate each other, which temporarily calmed the dispute between Geng and Zheng.

The words are far away, back to the point, seeing that Zeng Yang's surname sent Huang Kun as an envoy, Lu Fatzi inevitably frowned, because according to the information that Lu Fatzi had, when Huang Yong provoked Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing to turn against each other, this Huang Kun also contributed a lot to Huang Yong, sending a letter to Huang Yong, and desperately instigating and belittling Zheng Jing's friendly army in front of Geng Jingzhong, it was this Huang Kun - Zeng Yang's surname sent such a boring and shameless villain as a messenger, which is not a good sign for the fat army that is about to border Geng Jingzhong's army.

Sure enough, after entering Nanjing City, Huang Kun's greedy and lustful and arrogant face was immediately exposed, not only arrogantly boasting and exaggerating the strong combat effectiveness of Geng Jingzhong's army in front of the fat army generals, hinting at threatening the fat army soldiers, reaching out to Lu Fatzi to ask for military food and military salaries, and even molesting Lu Fatzi's fiancée Huang Xifeng Xiao Pepper who he accidentally bumped into - seeing that Xiao Pepper was beautiful and young at a young age, Huang Kun thought that Xiao Pepper was just Lu Fatzi's maid, and as the envoy of King Geng, of course he could do whatever he wanted to her, So without saying a word, I reached out and touched the tender buttocks of Little Pepper.

In this way, the soldiers of the fat army, who had been holding their breath for a long time, finally broke out, and when they saw Xiao Pepper screaming and crying, An Jiarong, the nephew of the Yi nationality of Lu Fatzi, was the first to rush forward, and smashed Huang Kun's three teeth with one punch, Gao Hongchen and Hu Tongchun beat Huang Kun to the ground with three punches and two feet, and the ghost cried wolf. Lu Fatzi, whose little fiancée was molested over there, couldn't bear it anymore, and yelled and ordered, "Beat Lao Tzu out with a stick!" Hit the line! Hit the city of Nanjing! ”

"General, please calm your anger." Yao Qisheng hurriedly persuaded: "General, although this Huang Kun is a scoundrel and despicable, he has always been the messenger of our friendly army. ”

"Fuck the friendly emissary!" Lu Fatzi yelled and raised his leg personally, kicked Huang Kun in the stomach who was held up by Hong Xiguan and Xiao Erlang, and roared: "Go back and tell Zeng Yang that you want to join forces to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, ask for military salaries and military rations, and send another messenger who speaks human words!" Send a beast like you as a messenger again, don't blame Lao Tzu for not giving him face and slashing him with a knife! Hit it out! ”

"The general spares his life, the general spares his life!"

In the crying wolf crying and crying for begging, Huang Kun, who was already covered in bruises, was beaten away by Lu Fatzi's own soldiers, but Lu Fatzi was still angry, and smashed the teacup on the back of Huang Kun's head, and said viciously in his heart: "Anyway, sooner or later, you will have to turn your face, and if you turn your face earlier, Lao Tzu can also save some food and military salary!" There is a war with you, and Lao Tzu also has an excuse not to send troops to the west! ”

Note: Hongze Lake as early as the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty because of the Yellow River diversion to form a hanging lake, the Ming Dynasty Wanli six years Pan Jixun as the governor of Hecao, began to repair and heighten the reinforcement of Gaojiayan, recorded that the highest water level of Hongze Lake, has been more than 10 meters above the ground. The phrase "Gaojiayan is poured, Huaiyang does not meet" is recorded in Pan Jixun's book "A List of River Defenses".

(To be continued)