Compared with the Ming court in Nanjing, which was able to solve its financial problems by reforming and rectifying corruption, the Manchu Qing Dynasty faced much more difficult problems in finance.

After all, the southern provinces are not short of money, they just can't collect it, and the northern provinces, up to now, are indeed short of money. Unless you rob it, you really have no money and no food to collect.

In order to prepare more military salaries, manufacture weapons and equipment with shabby green battalion soldiers, and supplement the equipment of the Eight Banners, the Qing court could only continue to raise taxes, and the people's conscription was even more onerous.

Moreover, the Manchu Qing Dynasty did attach great importance to the investment in the army, and this alone was not comparable to the original Ming court.

However, they could not endure the harsh administration of the Ming court, and the people in these places naturally could not endure the harsh government of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Subsequently, the rule of the Qing court also fell into a vicious circle of the Chongzhen Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, and in the continuous increase of taxes and heavy forced labor, one stream after another of displaced people was gradually formed.

It's just that it's not been a long time, and these displaced people haven't formed a strong enough force.

However, tens of thousands of displaced people soon merged with the anti-Qing rebels who retreated into the mountains, and the anti-Qing rebels that had been suppressed by the Qing court revived.

However, compared with the 300-year-old decay of the Ming court, the Qing court can still open up other sources of wealth, since it can't scrape money from the people, then grab it from the squire. In dealing with these Han Chinese, the Manchurian nobles were not merciful.

But the problem is that the Qing court was able to quickly establish rule in the Guannai, relying on cooperation with these squires to harvest the poor together, and now that the dog eats the dog, many of the squires who reacted are already planning to take refuge in the Ming court in the south.

It's just that because of the strong military power of the Qing court and selective robbery, it successfully divided the large gentry and maintained its rule for the time being.

Zhou Shixian received a lot of information from Lu Jiude, and was even more confident in defeating the Manchus, without the support of the squires, the rule of the Qing court would soon collapse with military defeat.

After all, the seventeenth century was the century of the landlord class, and this was something that Zhou Shixian, a later generation, had to admit.

Therefore, his current priority is to defeat the Manchus, eliminate the main force of the Eight Banners, and solve the national oppression first.

"The troops and horses of each unit will start mobilizing immediately after the New Year, and before the beginning of spring, the advance troops will enter the designated positions, and the rest of the troops and horses will be deployed as follows."

In the battle conference room of the Yangzhou Mansion, Zhou Shixian, Xue Changfu, Zhang Huangyan, Zheng Chenggong, Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing and other major generals sat around a table, and Xue Lao Er was holding a bamboo stick and explaining the latest battle plan.

The bamboo strips in Xue Lao's second-hand first landed in Xiangyang Mansion in Huguang, and then circled Jingzhou in the southwest direction, drawing a circle to circle them: "Ma Shiying sent military information over there, and at present, the Qing army in Huguang mainly has three forces, the strongest is the Guanning Army under Wu Sangui, the Green Battalion Army under Gaodi, and the Eight Banners led by Mantar Arzin, with about 3,000 soldiers and horses, and the strength is very strong;

However, after Shaanxi and Gansu were transferred by the Qing court, only 20,000 to 30,000 old and weak green battalions were left, and the strength was relatively weak.

At the same time, now the Qing court is weak, the Mongolian tribes in the north and west have repeatedly attacked, plundering grain and grass property, and the rebels have swarmed up, although it is not a climate, but it has also restrained a large number of Qing troops, and the actual soldiers and horses that the Qing army in Shaanxi and Gansu should be less than 40,000, and the core is still Wu Sangui and the Liaoxi soldiers and horses of Gao Di. ”

After Xue Lao Er introduced the basic enemy situation of Huguang, he stopped.

Huguang is mainly Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Zuo Liangyu, and Plug Yinxi defend, Li Guo and Gao Yigong will not listen to orders, Zuo Liangyu's condition is getting worse, and Plug Yinxi's strength is not enough to face the Qing army alone, however, with these three soldiers and horses, Zhou Shixian is not worried about Huguang's loss.

Wu Sangui realized his idea, and Dolgon directly transferred him to Huguang to confront the Shun army, just because he was worried that if he was sent to Nanzhili, he would directly go against it.

At present, his troops and horses are divided into two major divisions, one is about 20,000 horses, he personally led the garrison in Jingzhou, together with the Qing army general Arzin, to resist the Shun army from the south bank of the Yangtze River, one led by his general Wu Guogui, stationed in Xiangyang, Gao Di is also stationed here, mainly to prevent the attack of Zuo Liangyu and Du Yinxi.

At the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan, the mountains and mountains are continuous, and it is difficult to transport grain, grass and ordnance, and there are green battalions and heavy troops stationed in Hanzhong, and the Qing army is not worried about the loss of these places.

"At that time, Li Guo and Gao Yigong will lead the army to attack Jingzhou, contain Wu Sangui, and at the same time the Qing army under the command of Arzin, they will also cover for Zuo Liangyu and Duyin to harass and attack Xiangyang, so as to ensure that part of the Qing army in Shaanxi, Gansu and Henan is contained, and buy time for the capture of Jingzhou." Zhou Shixian said slowly.

After Zhou Shixian finished speaking, everyone nodded, and Xue Lao Er immediately raised the bamboo strip again, pointing to the north of the Huai River in Nanzhili in the southeast, which was their own defense area.

"The main force of the Eight Banners, the core of the Qing army, is in Jiangnan this time, so the main battlefield of the war is also here. Duoduo, Azig, Nikan, Tunqi, as well as Hong Chengchou, Shang Kexi, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, these big traitors are all here.

At present, there are more than 50,000 Eight Banner soldiers stationed in Henan, Shandong, Beizhili and other places, and 20,000 remain in the capital and can go south at any time, in addition, there are nearly 70,000 elite green battalion soldiers dispatched from all over the north, more than 10,000 vassal soldiers, and tens of thousands of clothed soldiers. These 145,000 soldiers and horses are almost the entire field corps of the Qing army.

Of course, in addition, there are tens of thousands of green camp defenders in the four provinces of Beizhili, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi. However, these defenders were not very combative. Except for the defense of the city and the provision of labor, it is unbearable to fight. ”

Speaking of the battle in Nanzhili, the generals in the room couldn't help but concentrate, Xue Lao Er paused, and continued: "The Qing court seems to have pressed all the main forces on Nanzhili, and Huguang only made defensive measures, and did not really invest in the core of the Eight Banners. ”

As soon as the words fell, the sound of discussion suddenly sounded in the room, if this is the case, then Nanzhili will face the main force of the Qing army alone, Zhou Shixian's new army is only 50,000 horses, and the rest of the armor soldiers of the various departments have been expanded and supplemented, adding up to only 30,000 or 40,000. There are still more than 30,000 elite Ming troops who can still fight in a war, and they are still coming from Liangguang, Fujian, Zhejiang and other places.

In other words, in terms of the most core field forces, the Ming army was still much weaker than the Qing army.

However, Zhou Shixian's use of modern training methods and the strong army piled up by countless money and grain already have some characteristics of a modern army in a strict sense.

"In this decisive battle in the south of the Yangtze River, our goal is to block the attack of the Qing army, and choose the opportunity to annihilate the main force of the Qing army, consume the soldiers and horses of the Eight Banners, and it is best to push the battle line to Shandong, Henan and other places after the battle."

Xue Lao Er said, and then moved the bamboo strip to the Xuzhou Wei area of Nanzhili, and talked about the operational deployment of the Nanzhili armies: "After the Qing army in the north began to attack, the primary goal should be to conquer Xuzhouwei, and then take advantage of the situation to attack the state capitals north of the Huai River, and the Qing army also needs canals to transport grain and grass, otherwise it will need to increase countless labor costs."

Therefore, our army has built a large number of fortresses in Xuzhouwei, and there are many mountains near Xuzhou, which is not conducive to the cavalry battle of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. ”

"But how to ensure that the Qing army takes the bait? Xuzhou is now impregnable, and Tartar should not be so stupid, go and gnaw this hard bone. Huang Degong asked.

"But at the beginning, Tartar will inevitably try it, after all, the location of Xuzhou is too important." Zhou Shixian took over directly.

"Therefore, at this time, we have to beat the Tartars, lose their morale, and at the same time expose a large number of soldiers and horses in Xuzhou City, so that they dare not enter the city if they don't solve it."

"In this way, Xuzhou is equivalent to blocking the connection between the northern provinces and the southern Zhili, and the Qing army in Shandong and Henan will inevitably be contained, and the main force of the hundreds of thousands of Qing troops has no other way than to attack Xuzhou City."

Xue Lao Er continued: "Moreover, the Tartars may still think that they can come to a siege point to send reinforcements, just like Jinzhou, which is what we are going to use." ”

Hearing this, all the generals were silent, it was several fiascos of the Ming army over the years.

Seeing that no one else spoke, Zhou Shixian immediately glanced at Xue Laoer, and the other party understood, and continued: "In this operation, our army will dispatch three divisions of the front, middle and rear armies of the new army, General Huang, General Gao, General Liu, and reinforcements from the southern provinces, as well as the Jiang Shui Division under the command of General Zheng, with a total strength of more than 200,000 soldiers and horses, including more than 90,000 armored soldiers, musketeers, more than 20,000 cavalry, more than 20,000 sailors, and more than 1,000 boats.

In addition, 150,000 civilians will be mobilized to be responsible for logistical baggage and fortification construction, and the logistics base of the army will be initially set up in the prefectures on the south bank of the Huai River, and Nanjing will send reserve troops and horses to defend it. If the subsequent battle on the north bank of the Huai River goes well, these soldiers and horses will be replenished to the front line nearby. The sailors were responsible for transporting the main armies through the canal, which saved a lot of manpower. ”

After Xue Lao Er finished speaking, Zhou Shixian nodded, and then immediately made instructions: "Grain, grass and equipment will be provided by the imperial court one after another, except for the Huguang area to be transferred from Guangdong and Guangxi, and the ones from Nanzhili are all transferred from the local, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi." ”

This is actually to take into account the problem of cost and control, and it is also to restrain Li Guo, Zuo Liangyu and others, and prevent these people from being unscrupulous after having food in their hands.

However, although Zhou Shixian could achieve these goals by influencing the imperial court, he actually didn't know how much grain and grass these people had hoarded in private and how long they could consume it.

Moreover, Zhou Shixian had to rely on these two troops to block the Qing army, otherwise his rear would be directly exposed to the attack of the Qing army. If this is the case, Zhou Shixian will have to retreat and return to help and repel the Qing army.