The great movement in Yangzhou has already alarmed the city of Nanjing.

As soon as he heard the news of the large-scale mobilization of the Yangzhou army, he ordered someone to quickly report to the Manchu court in Beijing.

Restless in the house, he felt that he should do something, since Luo Jian got married, Ma Shiying and a group of ministers and nobles of the court went to give gifts, it seems that the relationship between the Southern Ming court and Yangzhou has eased, and he doesn't know if the big movement of the Yangzhou army has anything to do with the Southern Ming court.

This thought made him very uneasy, Ma Shiying, who had returned from Yangzhou, now seemed to ignore Li Zhan and Liu Kongzhao, although Li Zhan and Liu Kongzhao had already expressed their intention to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, but it was now difficult for them to exert influence on the Southern Ming court.

The struggling Bilong remembered Li Zhan, this person has no great ability, but there are a lot of small tricks, so it is better to bring him to discuss it.

The two discussed in a remote restaurant until late at night, and the next day they invited Liu Kongzhao to this small restaurant to talk for an afternoon.

Ma Shiying felt extremely helpless about Yangzhou's big move, and he also knew that the Yangzhou army had set up such a big formation, and it was impossible to understate it like the last time he attacked Yizhou, and if the imperial court issued another decree to order it to settle down, I am afraid it would be impossible.

I can only settle for the next best, Ma Shiying thought to herself.

The so-called second is to guard their own backyard, in the final analysis, it is to guard Jiangxi and Zhejiang, Hunan is not able to defend it, this Ma Shiying knows this, now as long as Jiangxi is guarded, wait for the Yangzhou army to finish this battle.

Ma Shiying thought for a long time, and then remembered Liu Zeqing's department who had just surrendered to Chengcheng, although Liu Zeqing's department was not strong, but there were more than 30,000 horses, and putting them in Jiangyin was considered to take care of them, and now it seems that they must be transferred to Zhejiang to defend.

Where to put it took Ma Shiying a long time, and finally brought a group of staff to discuss for a long time, and then decided to let Liu Zeqing transfer to Jiaxing, if Jiangxi was occupied by the Qing soldiers, there would be a roadblock on the way to Nanjing.

Ruan Dacheng was sitting alone in the pavilion of the "Stone Nest Garden" at this time, and yesterday his doorman told him that in the past two days, the Manchu envoys had become more and more closely connected with Li Zhan and others, which gave him an ominous premonition.

He didn't know what the relationship between Li Zhan and Liu Kongzhao and others was with Ji Bilong, but he knew very well that Li Zhan and Liu Kongzhao were incompatible with Luo Jian in Yangzhou.

What are these people doing when they come together? Ruan Dacheng is thinking about this question today.

Li Zhan is a literati, and it is no problem to come up with ideas and think of solutions, but he has no one in his hands, and he can't do big things if he wants to. But Liu Kongzhao and Zhu Guobi are different, one is the admiral of Nanjing, the other is a noble, and the two of them have a total of 20,000 or 30,000 people, which is enough to turn Nanjing upside down.

Whether to tell the emperor and Ma Shiying about this news, Ruan Dacheng is also very entangled.

Ma Shiying now regards himself as the biggest opponent in the DPRK, if he is allowed to solve the hidden dangers in the DPRK, he will inevitably win the emperor's heart, and his position will inevitably be more stable, and his goal may no longer be hopeless.

If it's just that he can't be the first assistant, but Ruan Dacheng really knows Ma Shiying too well, and he has no way to deal with him Ruan Dacheng before, if he is relieved, I'm afraid that his life in the court will also be difficult.

After thinking about it, Ruan Dacheng had a headache, and he was so angry that he grabbed the glass on the table and slammed it on the ground, so frightened that the maid who was waiting next to him trembled.

The ministers and nobles of the DPRK and China all had their own petty calculations, which made the situation in Nanjing look quite turbulent.

Qian Qianyi, who has not been in charge of things recently, also felt it, and told Liu Ru that his eyelids have been jumping so hard in the past few days, and he always feels that something big is going to happen in Nanjing, and he can't say what will happen.

After Liu Ru returned from Yangzhou with Qian Qianyi to attend Luo Jian's wedding, she had a strong interest in Yangzhou's art troupe.

Hearing Qian Qianyi say this, Liu Ru put down the brush for notation and glanced up at Qian Qianyi.

"Master, if you feel uneasy staying in Nanjing, let's just go to Yangzhou, some songs are concubines or I can't remember everything, I want to ask them again."

"Go to Yangzhou again?" Qian Qianyi asked suspiciously.

"Master, where do you think there is a more peaceful place in the world than Yangzhou now?" Liu said with a smile.

"Yes, I also feel at ease in Yangzhou, madam, why don't we really go to Yangzhou?" Qian Qianyi was still a little hesitant.

"Master, if you want to go, let's make up our minds to go, didn't we buy a small yard in Yangzhou this time? Although it is smaller, we have a place to live when we go, and when the lord feels at ease, let's go back to Nanjing, okay? ”

As soon as Qian Qianyi ran away, the atmosphere in Nanjing City became more and more weird, and even the Beijing camp, which had not been practiced for a long time, was pretended to practice under the personal leadership of Xu Hongji.

Although the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year continued among ordinary people, it quickly faded as officials began to become cautious.

Even the fat emperor Zhu Youxiang felt that something was wrong, Ruan Dacheng rarely entered the palace to accompany him to watch the play these days, and the number of times the first assistant Ma Shiying entered the palace in the past few days has also decreased significantly.

When Qian Qianyi reported sick leave to the imperial court and rushed to Yangzhou with Liu Rusi, Luo Jian had already arrived in Xuyi.

A sudden heavy snow blocked Luo Jian in Xuyi, and the heavy snow shrouded the entire land, and the road ahead was no longer clear, and it was impossible to advance in the snow at this time, so Luo Jian had to stay in Xuyi.

It had been snowing heavily for two days, the snow on the ground was already more than a foot thick, and the temperature had dropped a lot, looking at the long ice skates dragging under the eaves, Luo Jian was very worried about the movement of the troops, and the previous plan did not take into account this drastic change in weather.

Fortunately, the weather was fair to both the Yangzhou army and the Qing soldiers, and it snowed heavily in Yangzhou, and even more snow fell in the Qing army-ruled areas in the north, and it was impossible for the Qing soldiers to increase their troops in the area of Guide again.

Two days later, the weather cleared, and despite the thick snow, Luo Jian decided to set off for Xuzhou.

Walking out of Xuyi City and looking at the thousands of miles of frozen land in front of him, Luo Jian felt a wave of pride welling up in his heart, gently patted the big green horse under the seat, greeted Gao Xiaozhang, and walked in the direction of Xuzhou.

Although the temperature was very cold, the canal was not frozen, and although the maneuver of the Yangzhou army was greatly affected, it did not stop due to the weather after all.

By the time Luo Jian arrived at the headquarters of the First Division in Xuzhou, the Sixth Division had already arrived in Huai'an, and was handing over defense with the Second Division, and the Second Division would leave for Xuzhou after the handover.

The Fifth Division and Yan Yingyuan's artillery brigade set off earlier than Luo Jian, taking the canal and waterway, and had already set up camp outside Xuzhou at this time.

It's just that even if the second division arrives, I'm afraid that the battle will not be able to start for a short time, and the thick snow makes the artillery of the Yangzhou army unable to move, so they have to wait for the weather to clear and the road surface to dry out.

Luo Jian, Huang Degong, Liu Zhaoji and others carefully learned about the situation of the Qing army in front of the Qing army at the headquarters of the first division in Xuzhou City.

According to what the scouts learned, the Qing soldiers on the opposite side did not seem to have made much adjustments, and the Tianyou army stationed in Dangshan County was still Geng Jimao's Tianyou Army, but Duoduo transferred more than 10,000 firecrackers and dozens of small general cannons to Geng Jimao, and made some reinforcements to the wall of Dangshan County.

The Qing soldiers in Guide City (Shangqiu, Henan) drove the people to brave the heavy snow and cold, and have been strengthening the city wall of Guide, it seems that Duoduo is going to defend Guide, which makes Luo Jian a little puzzled.

Although the strategic position of Guide is important, it is not the lifeline of the Manchu court, that is to say, it is not impossible to give up, and the Yangzhou army is now concentrating such a large force, obviously to find its main force for a decisive battle.

According to the Manchu Qing Dynasty's temperament, he fought when he could fight, ran away if he couldn't, or ran away when he reaped the benefits, which was to learn the essence of guerrilla warfare ten out of ten.

Luo Jian also realized this in the previous wars, once he felt that the situation was unfavorable, Duoduo withdrew his troops quickly, and did not entangle with the Yangzhou army, even Xuzhou, a strategic point to give up, but now he came to defend and return to Germany, although he was in the arms of the Yangzhou army, but Luo Jian was still a little confused.

Luo Jian brought Huang Degong and others to discuss carefully for a long time, and felt that it was not possible for the Qing army to break into Yangzhou from several directions, and the Qing cavalry in the Huai'an direction was very strong, and it was not possible to use it to attack the city, and there were no less than 25,000 people in the Huai'an direction, and the six divisions were all firearms troops, and it was impossible for the Qing troops to attack the Yangzhou area from the Huai'an direction.

The Qing troops in the direction of Anqing were far away, and although Jiujiang was in the hands of the Qing soldiers, the defenders of Jiujiang were still insufficient to defend themselves, let alone attack in the direction of Anqing.

"Governor, we can't control so much now, the sword has been drawn, we can't take it back, I see that the soldiers are relying on some new guns and general cannons, and they want to defend to Germany, and then let our artillery smash them."

Huang Degong thought about it for a long time, but he couldn't think of any means for the Qing soldiers, so he began to let go of his voice and shouted.

Liu Zhaoji also stared at the map for a long time, and he couldn't see how the Qing soldiers dealt with Yangzhou.

"Governor, I think Lao Huang has a point, maybe the collision between our first division and Geng Jimao last time gave them a lot of confidence, and they still have most of their men and horses in Hunan and Sichuan, if they want to attack Yangzhou, it will have to be timely."

After listening to Liu Zhaoji's words, Luo Jian suddenly found out where his question came from, that is, behind Yangzhou, the territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty that used to be the rear of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Luo Jian stood in front of the map, tapped his finger in the direction of Nanjing, and began to think.

"The Metropolitan Governor is worried about the direction of Nanjing? I think you are too worried, although the small court in Nanjing is not very enterprising, but now with the support of our Yangzhou army, these generals will no longer be like when the Duoduo army just went south, one by one, as long as they guard one place for ten days and half a month, they will win our time. ”

Huang Degong looked at the direction of Luo Jian's finger, and also thought for a long time before saying to Luo Jian.

Luo Jian thought about it for a while, and this is also the truth, so he put his heart down.