Although he slept well in spring and was pregnant with a beautiful woman, Zhu Youzhen still immediately convened his ministers early the next morning to interrogate all aspects of the preparations for the Qing army's southward movement.

On the same day, the crown prince was sent to Hangzhou by Zhu Youzhen on the pretext of inspecting Haitang in the south, in fact, to prepare for the worst-case scenario of the Qing army's southward movement, that is, the possibility of the fall of Nanjing.

And Zhu Youzhen himself can't leave this time, this time he wants to stay in Nanjing with the dignity of the emperor.

Not only did he stay in Nanjing, but Zhu Youzhen also had to go to Yangzhou, the front line of the war, and he wanted to tell the entire Jiangnan gentry that he was confident that he would repel the Tartars, and therefore to enhance the confidence of the Jiangnan officials and people in defeating the Tartars.

Unlike on the eve of Li Zicheng's invasion of Beijing last year, when the Qing army was heading south, the enthusiasm of the Jiangnan people was obviously much higher, mainly because the Qing army's shaving order also further stimulated the national consciousness of the Han family when screening loyal traitors.

In addition, once Jiangnan is lost, there is no place to retreat, and most of the officials and generals in the DPRK are almost southerners, which means that Jiangnan is their homeland.

This time, there was no embarrassment for the imperial historians, and they all focused on the matter of the Qing army's southward movement.

On the court that day, Zhu Youzhen only said a few words to encourage the ministers to continue to maintain the stability of the capital, do things as before, and take care of the overall situation, and then boarded the ship and went to Zhenjiang.

However, as soon as he arrived at Zhenjiang Dantu, Zhu Youzhen saw that the Linjiang Building where he had known Li Xiangjun in the past was still lit at the moment, so Zhu Youzhen ordered someone to inquire, and at the same time couldn't help but get out of the cabin, looking at the night boat on the river was full of lights, like a meteor, floating on the inky black water waves, rippling with the spring moon.

These night boats on the river are all warships that accompanied Zhu Youzhen's imperial boat to the north, including the hard sail fortune ships as large as a moving castle, and the soft sail Western warships that are as light as the small islands of Pinghu Lake, and hundreds of mighty ships crowd the waters of the Yangtze River.

This is very different from when Zhu Youzhen moved south last year, when the Qing army really broke through Yangzhou City and went south to the Yangtze River, and the artillery on these hundreds of warships alone was enough for him to drink a pot.

"Weichen participates in Your Majesty", the Jinyi Wei who went to visit came back to report that Linjiang Tower was compiled by Li Xiangjun and Guangming Daily, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but have an idea, and thought that he could also use this to let Li Xiangjun and others make a close-up for themselves, and make a close-up for the upcoming decisive battle in Yangzhou, so as to enhance the confidence of the Jiangnan gentry, and the prestige of his emperor is more noble, so he ordered someone to call them ashore.

At this time, Li Xiangjun has hung the official position of the imperial court, so he can naturally be commensurate with a minister, and now he is also wearing a brocade robe with arrow sleeves and hairpins, but he is also more heroic than when Zhu Youzhen first saw her.

Behind Li Xiangjun are two women and a man, and the man is Chen Hongshou, who is also serving in Guangming Daily.

The two women are Zhu Youzhen's life, and one of them is even full of anger towards Zhu Youzhen, with eyebrows and eyes like daisies, and a face as beautiful as the moon, but cold as frost; The other person was shy, blushing like a peach, and bowed his head to make his skirt. But they are all dressed in moon-white robes, as men's clothes.

"Who are these two pedants?" Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but take the initiative to ask about these two people.

"Back to Your Majesty, these two people are the compilers of Guanghua Daily's new recruitment, her name is Liu Rushi, and her name is Bian Yujing."

As soon as Li Xiangjun said this, Zhu Youzhen only nodded slightly, and his heart couldn't help but suddenly realize.

Zhu Youzhen understood why Liu Ruye was angry with herself, thinking that she had executed her husband who was too cold because of the water, and even beheaded all over the house, but Liu Ruzhen specially forgave her life because Zhu Youzhen remembered that she was still a woman and did not let her eyebrows, so she asked her to find a way out, and now she can understand when she sees that she has hatred for the emperor.

As the emperor, Zhu Youzhen naturally didn't have to be extremely obscene to get close to the two former Qinhuai famous prostitutes, and he still asked Li Xiangjun why he came to Zhenjiang.

Li Xiangjun is now in charge of the court, and he is one of the responsible persons of Guangming Daily, and he often has verbal battles with a cadre of literati and doctors in newspapers and periodicals, and he has known Zhu Youzhen early, but he is also calm and confident, explaining that he took Chen Hongshou and others to Yangzhou to understand the war in Jiangbei on the spot.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen suggested that they follow him directly to Yangzhou, and said that there will be pictures they want to see under the city of Yangzhou, and it is naturally something that Li Xiangjun and others are happy to do if they can go with the emperor, and Zhu Youzhen can also use this to inform Li Xiangjun and others of some of his opinions on public opinion guidance and news reports.

After crossing the Zhenjiang River, Zhu Youzhen soon arrived in Yangzhou City, at this time Yangzhou City was still calm, and a corps of the Second Army of the Guards Army had been stationed in Yangzhou Mansion and camped in Wanshou Town.

However, by the time the weather gradually began to heat up on the 5th day of the first month of May, Zhu Youzhen had already received the news that the Second Corps of the First Army of the Guards Army had successfully annihilated the Zhun Ta Department and had crossed the river to the south.

At the same time, the sentinels of the Second Army of the Guards came to report that they had found Jiannu scouts in the area of Shangguan Bridge in Yangzhou Prefecture.

Duoduo is not a quasi-tower in the end, although he can be regarded as going deep into the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, but he came with the purpose of destroying the Ming Dynasty, he is well prepared and thoughtful, so even if there are nearly 100,000 iron horsemen and hundreds of red-clothed cannons, he still sends a large number of scouts to find out the enemy's situation.

What's more, the most desired result for Duoduo to rush to Yangzhou now is to break through Yangzhou City before the main force of the Guards arrives in Yangzhou, and then go south to attack the Second Guards Army, and then move west to annihilate the Third Guards Army, and then go north to annihilate the First Army of the Guards, and implement various breaking tactics.

Therefore, Duoduo needs to find out the situation around Yangzhou today.

……

"Since Shangguanqiao has issued a Jiannu scout, it means that the main force of Duoduo has arrived in Yangzhou Mansion!"

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but think deeply, although Yangzhou Mansion is a strong city, the gateway to Nanjing, and has always been rich, has accumulated a lot of wealth, and the city is thick and deep, but no matter how solid it is, it is difficult to resist the attack of hundreds of red-coated cannons.

Zhu Youzhen now also had to start worrying that if the Third Army and the First Army of the Guards could not arrive in Yangzhou on time, it would probably lead to the loss of Yangzhou City first, so that the three armies of the Guards would not be able to live under the city of Yangzhou, except for the nearly 100,000 iron cavalry of the Qing Army's Duoduo Department.

"Your Majesty! The 1st Corps of the 1st Guards Army has arrived in Shaobo Town! ”

"Your Majesty! The Second Corps of the First Army of the Guards Army has arrived at Baimatang! ”

"Your Majesty, the First Corps of the Third Army of the Guards has arrived at Yeshan!"

"Your Majesty, the Second Corps of the Third Army of the Guards Army has arrived at the Great Copper Mountain!"

However, just when Zhu Youzhen was worried, a series of 800-mile urgent military newspapers were delivered to Yangzhou one after another.

Zhu Youzhen didn't hear a single piece of news, so he quickly circled the map with Ma Shiying, Lu Zhenfei and others, who had also arrived in Yangzhou.

After the latest progress of the Ming Guards Army's Fourth Route Army was confirmed, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief:

"The three armies have all arrived near Yangzhou City, and it just so happened that the Duoduo Department of Shangguan Bridge was surrounded under Yangzhou City, but the Duoduo Department should have also discovered the signs of our army gathering at this time!"

(End of chapter)