In fact, there is nothing to discuss, and Ren Siqi has already discussed with Li Yanzhi and others for many days about the next step. The www.biquge.info of the pen is to withdraw from Yangzhou and retreat to Chongming Island by land.

"Why go overland?" Liu Zhaoji, who knew Ren Siqi's plan for the first time, couldn't help but ask.

Ren Siqi smiled and didn't say anything, and Li Yanzhi answered for him.

"The reason why we chose to go south by land instead of the canal was because of the more than 800,000 people in Yangzhou. If you take the waterway, you will not be able to find so many ships, and you will definitely be intercepted by the Qing army. As long as they try to cut off the canal, such as blocking the canal with sunken ships, our more than 800,000 soldiers and civilians will lose their ground.

On the contrary, to the east along the land route, because the canal is controlled by us, it is completely possible to use the canal as a barrier to prevent the Qing army from crossing the river to pursue. More than a dozen prefectures and counties such as Taizhou, Hai'an, Rugao, etc., east of the canal, were still under the control of the Ming Dynasty, and as long as they crossed the canal, the people would escape the slaughter of the Qing army.

And now that Nanjing has been captured by the Qing army, they will inevitably send troops to attack the Jiangdong land around Susong, and they will definitely send a fleet to block the Yangtze River, and it is too difficult for our more than 800,000 people to escape into Chongming through the Yangtze River safely. ”

What Li Yanzhi didn't say was that even if he fled to Chongming, he would not be able to settle so many people, and if the movement was too big, it would definitely attract the attention of the Qing soldiers, and it would be bad if they took Chongming Island as a key target!

"You said that the Qing army would block the canal and the Yangtze River, so will the Shi Inspector be unsafe?" Chen Yujie hurriedly asked, he was only under the recommendation of Shi Kefa to become the secretary of the military department with a meritorious name, although he was only an eight-rank civil official, but Shi Kefa also recommended him, so he was very worried about Shi Kefa's safety.

"Mr. Chen is not worried, the inspectors are all on a fast boat, the goal is not very big, and they should be able to reach Hangzhou smoothly." Ren Siqi comforted.

Could it be that the Marquis of Su Xuan deliberately let that group of civil and military forces go south, in order to let them attract the attention of the Qing soldiers, and then take the opportunity to break through! Liu Zhaoji suddenly had such a thought in his mind, and he hurriedly shook his head vigorously and waved this thought away.

"Now that Nanjing has been lost, the Qing army will soon attack all parts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, these 800,000 people are really not easy to resettle, although Chongming Island is under the rule of our army, but it can't settle so many people. What my lord means is that after crossing the canal safely, the people can leave on their own if they have a way to go and relatives to take refuge in, and how can they find a way to survive in such a big place as the east of the canal. There is really nowhere to go, you can follow our army to Chongming Island. Li Yanzhi continued.

Hearing this, everyone was silent, and everyone knew that the current affairs were difficult, and so many people could not be properly accommodated, not to mention that eating every day was a great burden. Guarding Yangzhou this one more and more, the grain in the city is almost exhausted, the price of grain in the city has soared, has reached ten taels of silver and one stone, Li Yanzhi led the shogunate to control the price of grain, raided more than a dozen grain merchants in a row, and later announced that all the grain was confiscated and distributed by the government. But where can so many people in the city collect their rations! The reason why Yangzhou has not starved to death so far is because the Yangzhou navy controls the canal, and the grain from all over the south of the Yangtze River continues to be transported into Yangzhou through the canal. But now Jiangnan is about to be occupied by the Qing soldiers, and Yangzhou will not be able to defend it for a long time.

There are more than 800,000 people, and no place can accommodate so many people at once, so they can only let them flee for their lives! Thinking of this, Shen Tingyang, Chen Yujie and others in the hall suddenly felt extremely heavy.

"Send the people across the canal, our army can go east along the Yunyan River, through Taizhou and Hai'an, and then go south along the river, through Rugao to Tongzhou, and then enter the Yangtze River from Tongzhou to Chongming." Li Yanzhi pointed to the topographic map hanging in the hall with a stick, and explained to everyone the next movement of the army.

Thanks to the dense southern rivers, the army could take boats along the rivers, which was not only labor-saving but also fast. In the past month, Ren Siqi has sent Cao Changjiang, director of the Logistics Department, to lead a fleet of hundreds of river boats to and from Chongming Island twice along this route, and by the way, the remaining 4 million taels of silver, as well as many other belongings worth 3 to 4 million taels of silver, were transported back to Chongming in the name of purchasing grain.

According to Cao's report, there was no problem in retreating along this route, and the Salt River was a canal dug deep enough to carry salt from the seashore to Yangzhou, deep enough to carry most river boats. Since the Qing army attacked Yangzhou, Haiyan has no market, the canal has been abandoned, and salt boats can no longer be seen on the river.

In addition to this canal, there are also many rivers in the Taizhou area, each of which can be directly connected to the big river, so for Yangzhou, which controls thousands of river boats, it is indeed much safer to take such a route than to take the Yangtze River.

After determining the retreat route, the next step is to mobilize the people in the entire Yangzhou city, after all, it is not easy for more than 800,000 people to evacuate safely, and if it is not well organized, it will inevitably cause chaos.

Ren Siqi announced that Shen Tingyang would lead the shogunate to coordinate the evacuation of all the people, and Li Yanzhi would be responsible for investigating the people who were willing to follow the retreat, and try to retain those craftsmen and boatmen and scholars who were willing to follow, all of whom were urgently needed by the Ningbo army.

When the news of the retreat spread, the whole Yangzhou was in chaos, and countless people cried and came to the governor's mansion to petition, begging the Ningbo army not to evacuate Yangzhou.

It is difficult to leave the homeland, people are cheap to leave their homeland, and every person does not want to leave their homeland, and they leave their hometown without purpose.

Where do they go to beg for a living when they leave home? Although the propaganda team sent by the Ningbo army repeatedly preached the brutality of the Qing army and their evil deeds of massacring and massacring the city at every turn, there were still many people who did not want to leave Yangzhou at all.

In their opinion, as long as they surrender and be obedient, they should be able to survive...... Of course, it would be better if the Ningbo army was willing to stay and continue to defend the city, as long as they could defeat the Qing army, they could still return to their old happy life.

Shen Tingyang tried his best to persuade the officials of the government, but at this time, even these officials were listless. For these local snakes, they will be nothing without Yangzhou. And if they can stay, whether they are clear or clear, they will be inseparable from them, and no one can manage and control such a huge population without their assistance.

But slaughter! If the Qing army really slaughtered the city, wouldn't it be in vain to lose their lives, in this month's attack and defense, the Qing army died under the city of Yangzhou tens of thousands, they lost so much, they will definitely slaughter the people to vent their anger!

At this moment, many people in Yangzhou City are at a loss for what to do. (To be continued.) )