The rain was weak, but it was still gloomy, and the little powerhouses who had been chased by Zhou Huchen for thousands of miles began to flee north this time by stepping on the mud.

Balbu stayed, and with him was 10,000 mixed cavalry and 6,000 foot soldiers, these cavalry can almost be said to be the cavalry of the Qing army, and the 6,000 foot soldiers are all Balb's subordinates, all of whom are Jurchen warriors, and Balbu plans to fight.

As the people near Aluwei began to evacuate with their families, the beacon fires that stretched on the hills and high slopes were ignited, and the straight wolf smoke went straight into the sky. The smoke began to spread around, which was a signal of an enemy attack, and the territory of Aruwei was too vast, and it could be regarded as the only warning that Balb could do to the surrounding area.

Balb's garrison fortress was located on the south bank of the Songhua River, and the turbulent Songhua River just crossed the east and west, and Balb crossed the river and immediately broke the only two bridges, and the Songhua River became a natural barrier. The Songhua River can not be bypassed, except for the left near, the entire Songhua River along the mountains overlap, full of primeval forests and swamps, the Ming army wants to cross the river to be nearby, and the nearby bridge is destroyed is equivalent to temporarily blocking the Ming army from going north.

It was the autumn flood season, and the wide river that flowed through the waves made Zhou Huchen desperate.

"The river is turbulent, and I can't get through!" Zheng Sen glanced at Jiang Shui and made the same judgment.

"Shipbuilding? There is no shortage of wood here. Zhou Huchen asked weakly.

There is naturally no shortage of wood, the primeval forest here is not far in sight, there are towering trees everywhere, it can be said that it is the most ideal timber base for shipbuilding, but unfortunately, Zheng Sen knows the difficulty of shipbuilding: "What kind of ship to build, without craftsmen, the big ship can't be built, dare to cross the river with a raft?" It's better to wait for the river to freeze. ”

"How's that pontoon?" Zhou Huchen's question was still very weak.

"Such a width of the river, coupled with the turbulent river, build a pontoon bridge. How to rack? It's crazy, forget it. Zheng Sen shook his head and decisively vetoed it.

"Then set up camp on the spot and call the guide." Zhou Huchen sighed, it seems that he can't get over it for the time being, so he can only wait for the river to weaken.

Soon, several local guides cautiously ran over under the leadership of their own soldiers to give salutes, and Zhou Huchen immediately began to ask.

"When will this river be weakened?"

These guides included Jurchens, Mongols, and other ethnic minorities. But it's very consistent, several people don't know Chinese. Several soldiers in the army hurriedly came over and made a cameo appearance.

"Dashuai, it's just August, looking at this year's situation, it is estimated that the river will not weaken in a month and a half."

A month and a half is a bit too long! Zhou Huchen frowned.

"Can I cross the river by boat or raft when the water is weak? Or is it better to build a pontoon? ”

"Small boats and rafts can cross the river, but only after crossing the river can a pontoon bridge be erected, and the best time to cross the river is actually after the ice."

It is indeed unrealistic for more than 100,000 troops to cross the river in small boats and rafts, but it seems that it is not easy to erect a pontoon bridge after a small number of troops have passed, because the enemy troops on the other side are eyeing the enemy, just waiting to block the battle. This made Zhou Huchen upset and irritable for a while.

"How long will it take for the river to freeze?" Zhou Huchen was unwilling to be blocked by the enemy like this, and the loss of too many people to build a pontoon bridge outweighed the losses, so it was better to wait for the river to freeze.

"Back to Dashuai, the guide said that the river will not be frozen until after October." A soldier rushed to translate.

Two months. It will take at least two months to wait, which is too long, Zhou Huchen waved his hand, and the guide and several guest interpreters retreated.

"Great. It just so happened that the subordinates took the opportunity to clean up the periphery, and it would be troublesome to keep these fleas in the future, and the timing was just right. You just have to wait, I'll clean up the surrounding place. But it was Mo Xiancheng, he meant to take advantage of his current leisure to subdue the surrounding places, just to lay the foundation for his future domination.

"It's okay, anyway, you can't cross the river, so let's settle down these places and save trouble in the future. However, we must be cautious, don't kill too much, the north is barren, as long as there is something to eat, the ordinary people will not resist desperately, and try to use Huairou means. Zhou Huchen agreed, and he was idle, just to get the surrounding Jiannu Liliang to plan for the future: "Bring the map, let's see where to start." ”

A rudimentary map was rolled out, and Zhou Huchen's men began their two-month journey

The seasons in the north are changing, and just when Mo Xiancheng was constantly cleaning up those small forts and villages in the surrounding area, a cold air suddenly came, and the sky suddenly became cold.

The bleak wind blew the earth yellow, the mountains and forests were no longer green, and the speckled yellow heralded late autumn, which also meant that winter was not far away.

Zhou Huchen's logistics army has always been very powerful, this time is no exception, just as the weather became colder, the logistics force sent the largest horse before the winter in a timely manner, and a person who came with the materials made Zhou Huchen once again think of the comfortable life in the south, and also remembered a lot of people and things.

Following the logistics army was the eldest son of Zhou Yuji's chief staff Gao Linsheng, the deputy chief manager of the Zhenjiang Workshop, Gao Youmin, who was in the prime of life and belonged to the lineage of the lineage, which was equal to Zhou Huchen's family.

Naturally, family letters were brought, and there were several letters from Nanjing, grandmother and parents, princess, and the prince also came with a letter to greet them. In addition, there is a letter from Wuxi, it is Wuxi's family letter that makes Zhou Huchen ashamed, where sons have been born in Nanjing, and the person who made the first promise will continue to wait in Wuxi.

The letter from home brought by Gao Youmin was undoubtedly reassuring, but the materials were timely, because among these materials were cotton clothes, as well as open-finger gloves specially customized by Zhou Huchen for the soldiers. The northern land is too cold, and this kind of glove will play a vital role in battle, especially for musketeers, cavalry and auxiliaries, and this very warm glove will give them a very protective effect on the ice and snow.

In Gao Youmin's mouth, Zhou Huchen got the actual situation of Jiangnan and the northern capital, the north is stable, and the relocation of the capital has begun; The workshop in Zhenjiang is operating as usual, and has been receiving the full support of the imperial court, and the various weapons and equipment produced have been constantly transported to the north; According to Zhou Huchen's instructions, the recruitment and training of recruits in Zhenjiang has slowed down, the overall situation has been decided, there is no longer a need for a large number of soldiers to be put into the battlefield, and the recruit training camp in Zhenjiang has eased; And the shipyard in Huai'an is not idle, new large warships are being built, and they will be launched next spring.

There are a lot of things to do, but they are all more assured, and Zhou Huchen's somewhat anxious mood has calmed down a lot.

The weather is getting colder and colder, the mountains and fields are yellow, and winter is about to begin, Gao Youmin set off for the south with Zhou Huchen's reply.

The wind howled like a roar, and with it came the flying snow particles, and the bone-chilling cold of the north. A few days after Gao Youmin left, a greater cold snap came, the river began to have thin ice, the snow particles that fell to the ground were melting, and soon, the reckless mountains, forests and the earth fell into a white vastness, and the first snow of this winter came (to be continued......