At the beginning of the spring of the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, as soon as the temperature warmed up, the Ming army began to act after more than a year of rest.

First of all, Li Guo and Gao Yigong went to Jingzhou, Kuizhou, Yueyang and other places to send troops, and Zuo Liangyu's army was concentrated near Wuchang City, quite a thousand boats racing.

At this time, the advance force of Plugging Yinxi, led by Hao Yongzhong, entered Chengtianfu, and Zhou Shixian also began to operate with great fanfare north of the Huai River in Nanzhili.

On the surface, the Ming and Qing dynasties each occupy half of the country, although the Qing court is not dominant, but it is much better than the previous corner of Liaodong.

However, with the victory of Zhou Shixian in the first war, at this time, the Qing court in the army, whether it is the morale of the people, or the mobilization ability, the grain and grass and military reserves, the Qing court has fallen into disadvantage.

However, the Qing army also had its own plans. Since the Ming army's naval division was strong, Naduoduo and Azig naturally would not go back to the Huai River, they planned to complete the annihilation of the Ming army in Xuzhou, a key transportation hub, and finish their work in one battle.

And the way to play, naturally, is when outside the gate, Huang Taiji has tried and tested the encirclement points to help. Anyway, the Ming army will be fooled every time. This went with Zhou Shixian.

After all, as long as the main forces of the two armies here, either of them is annihilated, the rest of the south will naturally be insignificant. This is the strategy that Dolgon and Hong Chengchou decided together after careful consideration.

At this time, because of the change in the situation, Hong Chengchou was more reused than in the original history.

In fact, after the Qing army lost thousands of the main force of the Eight Banners in the Huaihe River Battle last year, the bad political impact caused by this has slowly become apparent.

In the Guannei, not only Wu Sangui, who has just been transferred, but also Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, who has seen the strength of the Ming army, and even the newly surrendered Green Camp Army in various places, those gentry and clans have already begun to talk to the Ming court in Nanjing, and the old acquaintances in the Ming army.

If it weren't for the fact that those coats in the Qing army had become half masters after entering the customs, and they had been tied to the core interests of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, I am afraid that these coat soldiers would also start to disobey the yang and the yin, and they would not be able to work.

The situation outside the customs was even worse, the battle of Wuchang completely broke the military prestige that the Qing army had established over the years, and the news of the heavy losses of the Qing army in this year or so, with the flow of caravans and personnel, spread throughout the East Asian continent, to the Mongolian tribes of the steppes, Chaoxian, and even the Japanese archipelago, and the north of the Manchu ruled area was once again disturbed by the Mongols.

Whether it is the Mongolian tribes on the steppe, or the Chao Xian State, they were originally forced by the military might of the Qing court, so they could only grovel and pay tribute to sue for peace, but now that the Qing court has lost its only support, how can they endure the barbaric and brutal rule of the other party?

In just one year, many Mongol tribes are no longer optimistic about the outcome of the Qing court in this war, in fact, three or four tribes were directly absent from this year's tribute, and the Han people, as the hegemon of East Asia, have repeatedly recovered the residual prestige began to trouble.

Chao Xian, on the other hand, relied on the emptiness of the Qing court's forces in Liaodong and almost cut off all official ties with the Qing court. The Li Dynasty originally called itself "Little China", but now that the main forces of the Qing army are in the Guannei, they are beyond the reach of the whip, so they naturally no longer compromise and seek perfection.

Not to mention, they also followed the Chongzhen era at this time, although they also kept slaves in the country, but how could they, who claimed to be civilized, submit to a semi-slave regime like the Manchu Qing?

However, although the external conditions were extremely unfavorable, after so many years of war in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the senior princes of the clan had already experienced a hundred battles, and it was the time when they were in their prime of life, so they were naturally not afraid of the Ming court in Nanjing.

Duoduo, Azig, Hauge, Bolo and others are all first-class fierce generals and brave generals, and they can all lead an army alone. And most of the soldiers and horses under their command are also experienced in a hundred battles, and their combat effectiveness is very strong, and they are completely mule and horse troops.

Of course, there is also Fan Wencheng, who has been loyal since the founding of the Manchu Dynasty, that is, Hong Chengchou, the former Ming Governor, who also seems to be going to do his best for the Manchu Qing Dynasty and die.

It can only be said that the prestige of the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years still exists, but the situation in the Manchu Qing Dynasty has not collapsed to the point of being out of control.

You must know that Dolgon's methods should not be underestimated, especially now that he has not got carried away, and it is not like in the original history, because of the fall of Li Zicheng, the fragility of the Southern Ming Dynasty and the faint tricks came out one after another, so that there were constant fires everywhere.

Moreover, Shunzhi is just a puppet now. He has been constantly strengthening his strength, and has weakened the prestige of both Duoduo and Azig, and his power is very strong.

Of course, in fact, Dorgon also understands that the operation of power is often just the icing on the cake, and the most fundamental thing is to win on the battlefield. Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty is still at peace, it is actually a hidden crisis. If Jiangnan can't be attacked again, when the Ming court recovers, I'm afraid he can only retreat outside the pass with the remnants.

In the school field in the south of the city of Yangzhou, on the high general platform, under a very eye-catching golden tassel umbrella, Zhou Shixian was wearing a gilt armor with resolute eyes, behind him were a group of generals of the new army, and under the stage were more than 10,000 officers and soldiers of the new army with neat appearances.

After the army was expanded several times, the old establishment was no longer applicable, and Zhou Shixian also began to build a higher level, dividing the 50,000 army into three armies.

Now, after another year of preparation, the Tobu has allocated a special fund to buy enough fabric from the workshops in Minami Naoli to make all kinds of new military uniforms, from soldiers' helmets to armor.

The soldiers, musketeers, cavalry, and cavalry of the new army under Zhou Shixian now have different colors in their uniforms. In particular, the red-tasseled helmets of the musketeers are the most spectacular and eye-catching when they are arranged.

Although Zhou Shixian was busy with military affairs every day and had to deal with the affairs of the imperial court, he still attached great importance to the details of the army, which was an important part of the soldier's sense of honor.

Under his governance and that of Li Banghua, Ni Yuanlu, Liu Zongzhou, Zhang Mingzhen and other ministers, the bureaucracy of the Nanjing court was much more restrained and maintained relative integrity and good efficiency.

At the same time, workshops and craftsmen at all levels have begun to burst out with vitality and creativity under various incentive systems, and from time to time there are innovations about machinery and tools, although most of them are minor repairs, but the trend is all the way up.

The change of these tools and the optimization of the management system have led to a slow increase in productivity.

Zhou Shixian turned his head to look at the front, and on the vast school field in front of the stage, officers at all levels of the Chinese army under Xue Lao'er were organizing soldiers to prepare for the final drill.

On the school field, there is a red, white and black queue, more than 10,000 Chinese army musketeers, soldiers, and cavalry are standing in a solemn formation, with strict banners, shiny armor, sharp swords and guns, and bright military uniforms.

He looked around, and then turned his eyes to Xue Laoer, Zhang Huangyan, Zheng Hu, Zhou Tong, Zheng Chenggong, and several other newly promoted officers, each of these generals under his command is loyal.

For an army, only a steady stream of victories can be exchanged for high morale and the belief that victory will be won, and only these can be exchanged for the next victory, higher morale and rock-solid faith.

And for these ministers and generals, almost all of them are like this, Zhou Shixian can only exchange his continuous victories on the battlefield for their loyalty.

Loyalty, to some extent, belongs only to the winners. Unless it is Xue Changfu, Zhang Hong, Zhu Maozhen, and Wu Xingye, they have already followed Zhou Shixian early in the morning.

Subsequently, Zhou Shixian led a group of generals to inspect in front of the army array in the sound of war drums and trumpets in the shocking and loud sound of war drums and trumpets, and looked at this army with neat appearance and excellent mental outlook, and his heart was very happy.

Of course, Shu Chang, this army is his greatest reliance, that is, his hope of defeating the Manchurians and restoring the rivers and mountains, and he has cultivated it single-handedly, from only four or five hundred people in the capital two years ago, to an army of 50,000 today.

After inspecting the appearance of the army, Zhou Shixian and his generals returned to the platform. After hearing the sound of the military horn, the phalanx of the combat battalion and the mixed battalion below immediately began to demonstrate the battlefield attack.

In fact, there were already military exercises in the Ming Dynasty, but it may be the first time that they are as large-scale and close to actual combat as today.

More than 8,000 men and horses formed a long front on the wide school field, most of the musketeers were in front, arranged in two horizontal columns, and two thick musketeers phalanx on either flank of the large formation, they used heavy arquebuses from Spain, the turtledove's foot guns, much more powerful than the Rumi guns, responsible for covering the flanks with crossfire.

Since the night attack on the north bank of the Huai River, after seeing the huge power of the turtledove's foot, Zhou Shixian has made great efforts in this. However, this musket is not suitable for the whole army, and it is excellent to use it as a cover for vitality.

The spearmen and sword and shield bearers were still in the rear, the cavalry on both flanks was responsible for mobile cover, and among them there were cavalrymen armed with short guns, which would give the Qing army unexpected attacks on the battlefield.

However, there are many things that do not make a difference during the exercise. It is only on the real battlefield that these firearms can play a real role.

With a very high degree of orderliness, the soldiers and horses of all units maintained the front line while advancing, shouting "victory" in their mouths, and the momentum was very huge, and the people's blood was boiling.

These soldiers have undergone extremely rigorous and scientific training, and all of them have met the requirements, and under the perfect logistics supply, the combat effectiveness is definitely not comparable to the previous soldiers.

Of course, in addition to the greater momentum, there is still not much difference now, but once the battle starts, their organization, training, and proficiency in battlefield skills after countless trainings, and even military discipline, will be different from other armies.