The news came from Hunan, and the reason that surprised Luo Jian was that history had completely changed, and instead of getting better, it had become worse.

Although Luo Jian's words to Mrs. Gao and the generals of the Dashun Army asked Zehou Tian Jianxiu to temporarily act as the leader, Tian Jianxiu only had 7,000 men and horses in his hands, while his old subordinate Liu Tichun (who was the general of Youying Youguoyi) had 30,000 troops, his younger brother Liu Titong also had 20,000 soldiers, and the original general Hao Shaoqi had 40,000 people and Wang Jincai had more than 76,000.

After Li Zicheng's death, these generals began to have different thoughts, Tian Jianxiu's strength was insufficient, although he was generous, but he did not have great talent, and he couldn't win the generals at all.

Just when Lu Wei proposed that they send troops to Yueyang, it took about ten days before Tian Jianxiu cobbled together 30,000 horses to attack Yueyang, but at this time it was too late.

In order to solve the two lakes, Liangguang, Fujian, Jiangxi and other places as soon as possible, Dolgon then sent 20,000 cavalry and 50,000 Han troops to Hong Chengchou, and ordered all the Qing troops in the two lakes to be dispatched by him, showing great trust in Hong Chengchou.

As soon as Hong Chengchou arrived in Wuchang, he abandoned the practice of Tong Dai, the former governor of Huguang in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, to appease the people, and took active offensive actions against both the Ming army and the Dashun army.

And He Tengjiao, the governor of Hunan in Nanming, was still the same as in history, after learning about the disunity within the Dashun army, he began to calculate how to divide and disintegrate the Dashun army, and constantly sent people to the Dashun army to win over some generals, which made the rift within the Dashun army deeper and deeper, and finally bought Hao Shaoqi and Wang Jincai into cronies, and the internal joint force of the Dashun army no longer existed.

Although Mrs. Gao knew these situations well, she couldn't suppress these generals at all, and there was nothing she could do but sigh every day.

Lu Wei had to follow the 30,000 Dashun army to Yueyang, before he arrived in Yueyang, he was intercepted by 10,000 Qing soldiers in Sanjiang Town, the Dashun army was defeated, Tian Jianxiu fled with some men and horses, Lu Wei and more than a dozen Yangzhou soldiers relied on grenades to protect Mrs. Gao and a group of female soldiers to escape from the pursuit of the Qing soldiers, and their whereabouts are still unknown.

The Dashun Army led by Li Guo marched south from Hanzhong in Shaanxi Province, and entered the mountainous areas of western Hubei (i.e., the Xiling Gorge area) through Taiping (now Wanyuan), Dongxiang, Dazhou, Kuizhou, and Xinning in Sichuan Province in April.

On July 20, Li Guo, Li You, He Basket, Gao Yigong, Liu Rukui, Ma Chongxi, Zhang Neng, Tian Hu, and Yang Yanchang attacked Jingzhou.

These news made Luo Jian unexpected, he thought that he knew the direction of history, and arranged people to do work in advance, and the situation would improve, but he knew that because of the arrival of his party, he gave the Qing soldiers a great blow in the direction of Yangzhou, and let the Qing soldiers strengthen the offensive in another direction.

Originally, it was not until November that He Luohui, the general of the Qing army, sent a signal of appeasement to Zhang Xianzhong of the Great Western Army in Sichuan, and it was not until next year that the Qing army attacked Sichuan by Haoge, the prince of Su.

However, now Dolgon ordered He Luohui to march to Sichuan to destroy the Great Western Army Zhang Xianzhong, despite the resistance of the peasant army in Shaanxi, and Haoge also led the Manchu army from Jingzhou to Dazhou and Bazhong, and joined the operation to eliminate the Great Western Army.

Originally, it was expected that the Dashun army could integrate its forces and drag some of the Qing troops in the area of the two lakes, and Yangzhou could also gain time for development, but now it seems that the Dashun army cannot be counted on, and the Daxi army will be wiped out by the Qing army earlier than in history.

Luo Jian was very surprised by the quick change of tactics of the Manchu rulers led by Dolgon, and began to regard Dolgon as a real opponent in his heart.

History has been changed, advanced weapons have been used up, Luo Jian and the others only have advanced ideas and knowledge beyond this era, and it takes time to transform knowledge into strength, how much time does the Manchu Qing have left for Yangzhou?

Now the Qing army is attacking in Hunan, He Tengjiao is tired of coping, and constantly complains to the imperial court, and the Hongguang court can only transfer troops from Fujian and Jiangxi, but it still can't stop the Qing army's overwhelming attack, and the situation is worse than in history.

Hong Chengchou sent a Qing army to march to Jiangxi, encountered fierce resistance in Nanchang Prefecture, the Qing army attacked the city for nearly a month, could not capture Nanchang, could only retreat, the situation in Jiangxi eased slightly.

After learning these news, Luo Jian convened an emergency military meeting with generals at all levels, analyzed and judged the situation, and everyone agreed that the Yangzhou army could no longer seek stability at present, and if the Qing army captured the two lakes and two Guangzhou, the basis for the survival of the Southern Ming court would no longer exist, and it was necessary for the Yangzhou army to take offensive actions.

As to the target to be attacked, there were some disagreements among the Yangzhou army.

Huang Degong believed that he should attack Xuzhou, directly defeat Duoduo, and then march from Xuzhou to Huai'an, so as to restore the previous situation of the four towns in Jiangbei.

And Liu Zhaoji and other generals believe that Huai'an should be taken directly, although the number of Qing soldiers in the Zhun Tower Department is not less than that of Duoduo, but the vast majority of them are Han troops, and their combat effectiveness is definitely not as good as that of Duoduo Department.

Luo Jian thinks more long-term, from the perspective of Yangzhou's development needs, the importance of Huai'an is obviously higher than that of Xuzhou.

Huai'an has a perfect shipyard in the Ming Dynasty and a good port of Haizhou (Lianyungang), which provides the necessary conditions for the future development of Yangzhou.

And from Huai'an to Xuzhou again, the waterway is also extremely convenient, everyone has decided to attack Huai'an first.

With Luo Jian's order, the entire Yangzhou immediately entered the wartime system, and the Huang Fei Water Division had begun to maneuver from Anqing to Yangzhou.

At this time, the troops are still wearing summer clothes, I don't know how long the battle will last, tens of thousands of cotton clothes make Luo Jian and Shi Kefa very headaches, even if there is no shortage of silver for the time being, but so many clothes can not be made for a while, the two discussed for a long time, and they can only let people rush to make it, as far as possible after the weather cools down, the troops will not be frozen.

The headache of the two was solved by Liu Lan, Xiao Nizi made a package ticket and said: "Brother Luo, even if you lead the troops to the battle, the matter of cotton clothes is wrapped up in me." But Brother Shi, you have to guarantee this cotton and other raw materials. ”

Hearing Liu Lan say this, Luo Jian remembered what he had told her, he was always worried that the early appearance of the "Jenny Machine" would cause a large number of textile households to be unable to make a living, and even cause farmland to become cotton fields and mulberry fields.

"Liu Lan, I understand what you mean, it's just that the technology must be kept secret, don't leak it out at this time, it's not the right time." Luo Jian admonished.

"Brother Luo, you can rest assured, I only recruit family members in the army to the textile factory, which can not only reassure the army, but also help with technical secrecy, I will build the factory outside the barracks, is this feasible?" Liu Lan thought for a while and said.

"You have to discuss this matter with the overseer, and if you want to do it, you must do it well." Luo Jian emphasized.

Shi Kefa's Juxian Pavilion was already empty, and after Luo Jian and Shi Kefa talked many times, a large number of scholars were arranged to serve in the local area, and the two prefectures of Anqing and Fengyang had gradually entered the right track.

After the decision was made, Luo Jian and Shi Kefa came to Guazhou, and Luo Jian had not been to Guazhou for more than a month.

Guazhou has now become a military production base, and the entire Guazhou has more than 20,000 workers.

Looking at the black smoke constantly emitting from the seven or eight big chimneys, Luo Jian was a little speechless, could it be that with industrialization, environmental pollution is the price that must be paid? It's just that the current situation makes Luo Jian unable to think about environmental protection, so he can only think silently in his heart.

Shi Kefa was extremely excited about this scene, and black smoke was floating all over the sky, which meant that all kinds of production were being intensified, and the tighter the production, the greater the possibility of victory for the Yangzhou army on the battlefield.

Guazhou has now built a steel mill, a firearms factory, an artillery and shell factory, a gunpowder factory, and a humble research institute in Liu Weimin Lane.

The research work in Guazhou was forced to stop, Liu Weimin, Chen Zilong and others began to intensify military production again, and even Song Yingxing put down the research of the steam engine and joined the production team.

Song Yingxing personally improved the machine tool, and also modified the ignition device and locking device of the Mini gun, and the firing rate has reached more than 90%, and the firing range and power have also been greatly improved.

According to Liu Weimin, the power of the Mini gun can already penetrate three layers of iron armor at a distance of 100 meters, and if it were not for the front loading and the black huo medicine used, it would be no big difference from the later rifles.

The production mode of standardization, standardization and assembly line, coupled with the use of seamless steel pipes, has greatly accelerated the production progress of Minnie guns, and now more than 500 new Minnie guns have been equipped with the first division.

When Luo Jian and Shi Kefa were leaving, Xiao Liu carefully handed Zhao Quan a cardboard box, asking him to keep it carefully, and whispered a few words in Luo Jian's ear.

Back in Yangzhou, Luo Jian, Shi Kefa and others made a series of arrangements.

After the 6th Division was reinforced with 10 artillery pieces, it began to expand westward from Anqing and had already advanced to the area of Wangjiang County, while the 4th Division guarding Fengyang was also strengthened with 10 artillery pieces, but they could only take a defensive position against the Duoduo Division in Xuzhou for the time being.

After transferring some grassroots officers from the first and second divisions, he has now taken over the second division to defend Xuyi, and the garrison division is still responsible for the garrison task of Yangzhou.

Shi Kefa reminded Luo Jian that from the canal to Huai'an, you must go through Gaoyou, and now Liu Zeqing is still in Gaoyou, if Liu Zeqing's ministry can be reorganized, then the Yangzhou military and military orders in Jiangbei will be unified.

Luo Jian has no illusions about Liu Zeqing, some time ago Liu Zeqing resisted very fiercely in Huai'an, that is because the Southern Ming Dynasty is still there, Liu Zeqing's department still has a way to retreat, Huai'an is its base camp, the Qing soldiers came too fast, and the looted money was too late to transfer, so he could only defend Huai'an, if in history, he would have surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

After everything was arranged, Luo Jian decided to launch an attack on Huai'an with Liu Zhaoji's 1st Division, Li Chengdong's 2nd Division, Weng Zhiqi's 5th Division, Yan Yingyuan's 62 artillery pieces, and Huang Feishui's Division, totaling 45,000 men.

The General Staff immediately worked overtime to formulate a battle plan, and three days later, the battle plan was reported to Luo Jian.

With the issuance of the order of the Dadu Governor's Office, the Third Division officially took over the defense of Xuyi, Huang Degong and Li Chengdong took the Second Division from Xuyi to move from Xuyi to Huai'an by land, and the Fifth Division rushed from Tai'an to Yangzhou to board the ship.

On September 15, Luo Jian held a swearing-in meeting outside Yangzhou, and after the oath-taking meeting, he set off for Guazhou with the first division and artillery to board the naval division's warship.