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"Are you saying that Qin Mu doesn't take my 80,000 troops seriously at all?"
Duoduo's eyes were somewhat cold, like a provoked beast, with the glare of an eagle and the back of a wolf, full of murderous intent.
Although he had a better sense of the overall situation than Ajige, he was only relatively tyrannical. From his actions of taking Fan Wencheng's wife back to his house and committing violence against her, and then massacring hundreds of thousands of people in Yangzhou, we can see how arrogant his nature was.
Ning Wanwo realized that his words had hurt Duoduo unintentionally, and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. Qin Mu is really an ignorant child. He took advantage of the navy to conquer Jiangnan, and then he boasted about his achievements. He is courting his own destruction. Your Majesty, why bother with him?"
"You're right, he's courting his own destruction." Duoduo smiled coldly.
"Your Highness, you want to..." Ning Wanwo understood what Duoduo was thinking from his cannibalistic eyes and quickly advised, "Your Highness, we must be cautious about this matter. From here to Chuzhou, the detour is no less than 300 miles. If Qin Mu is alerted in advance and escapes back to Jinling, we will be alone and be surrounded by enemies. If our retreat is cut off, the consequences will be disastrous."
Duoduo said disdainfully: "What if we penetrated three hundred miles? Three hundred miles is only a day's journey for our Qing cavalry. Back then, we broke through the pass and went straight to Shandong. We penetrated more than ten thousand miles. Who can stop me?"
After hearing the clues, Malaxi, Gong Adai, Xihan, Tong Tulai, Zuo Menggeng, Li Yongfang, Sun Degong, Zu Dale and others stood up and volunteered to fight.
Gushan Ezhen Malaxi followed Duoduo to the south of the Yangtze River and conquered Changzhou, Yixing, Changshu and other cities. He was an extremely brave man. He said in a loud voice: "Your Highness, we may be easily blocked when attacking a strong city, but in terms of cavalry battle, how can the Qin army be a match for our Qing cavalry? Not to mention penetrating 300 miles, even if we penetrate 3,000 miles, the enemy will be helpless.
If Qin Mu was in Jinling, we would not be able to do anything to him because of the mighty Yangtze River. Now he is so proud that he has come to Chuzhou. He is courting death. Your Majesty, as the saying goes, once you lose an opportunity, it will never come back. Please order an attack on Chuzhou immediately."
Zu Dale was also eager to try and said, "Your Majesty, the Qin army is good at defense. If we attack one city after another, our army will suffer heavy losses. Even if we can advance to the north bank of the Yangtze River, I am afraid we will not be able to cross the river. Speed is the essence of war. If we travel 300 miles a day and suddenly attack Chuzhou, if we can capture Qin Mu, then the Qin State will be leaderless and will surely collapse without a fight.
Even if Qin Mu is lucky enough to survive, as long as he is trapped in Chuzhou City, the Qin army will not stand by and watch him die. Then we can rely on the advantage of cavalry. We will destroy the Qin army as they come. If that happens, the world will be settled!"
The temptation was huge. After the battle of Sizhou, everyone had lost confidence in attacking the city. As Zu Dale said, if everyone attacked the city after city like Sizhou, there would be no one left in the Qing Dynasty by the time they reached the Yangtze River.
The surprise attack on Chuzhou is a must for attacking the enemy. As long as Qin Mu can be trapped in Chuzhou, it will be considered a success.
By encircling Qin Mu, the Qin army's formation could be completely disrupted. When the Qin army rushed to support, the Qing army's cavalry advantages could be fully utilized, and they could defeat the Qin army coming to support them along the way, completely reversing the current unfavorable situation.
Gong Adai added at the end: "Your Highness, let's take a step back. Even if Qin Mu is alert and escapes across the river in advance, and our surprise attack on Chuzhou fails, with our speed, who can do anything to us if we retreat? It only takes two days to go back and forth."
Among the people present, except Ning Wanwo who still had some concerns, the rest of them all asked to fight. Duoduo did not hesitate any longer and immediately ordered an attack on Chuzhou.
Sizhou is located on the north bank of the Huai River. If you want to attack Chuzhou, you have to cross the Huai River first.
In order to avoid wasting time and allowing Qin Mu to escape back to Jinling in advance, Duoduo ordered Aobai's 10,000 troops on the south bank of the Huai River to set out first and rush to Chuzhou overnight, determined to trap Qin Mu.
Then he left more than 30,000 troops to continue attacking Sizhou and controlled the Huaihe River waterway, preventing the Qin navy from going upstream to attack Fengyang Prefecture.
He selected 30,000 elite cavalry to cross the river. Winter is the dry season of the Huai River, so it is not difficult to cross the Huai River. However, the Qin navy guarding the river mouth is a major threat to crossing the river.
In order to ensure a smooth crossing of the river without any risk of error, Duoduo ordered people to cut down bamboo and wood, and quickly made thousands of bamboo rafts, which were connected with iron chains and placed on the river surface. The rafts were loaded with dry firewood. Once the Qin navy arrived, the dry firewood would be lit to block the entire river surface.
In addition, hundreds of cannons were placed on the riverside as shore artillery, and tens of thousands of Qing troops took action overnight. Overnight, they not only made bamboo rafts to block the river, but also built two floating bridges for crossing the river in the shallow water upstream.
The next day, 30,000 elite cavalry began to cross the Huai River to the south.
As expected, the Qin navy came up the river and prepared to attack. The Qing army bombarded them fiercely with shore artillery. Rows of fire rafts were set ablaze on the river. The flames were so intense that they floated down the river in the northwest wind.
Because the bamboo rafts were locked with iron chains, the Qin army could not push them away, and some boats were caught on fire. The billowing black smoke covered the entire river, making people cry and unable to see far.
Under the pressure of thousands of fire rafts, the Qin navy had to temporarily retreat to Hongze Lake, allowing Duoduo's 30,000 elite cavalry to safely cross the Huai River from upstream.
There is a mountain range running from northwest to northeast to the north of Chuzhou, extending all the way to the vicinity of Xuyi. However, going south from Xuyi and passing through Tianchang County, there is an endless plain area with rice fields and swamps, a typical land of fish and rice.
If it is summer, there is water in the rice fields and people and horses have a hard time.
But in this cold winter season, the rice fields are dry and you can run horses anywhere.
Abahai's army of 10,000 set out the night before and by dawn had advanced nearly a hundred miles south.
His 10,000 cavalrymen originally attacked Xuyi just to take advantage of the situation. They were originally prepared to attack the Qin army's reinforcements, so they left as soon as they said they would, and their speed was astonishing.
When he arrived at Tianchang County, the Qin army stationed in Tianchang hurriedly went up to the city to defend it, with about four to five thousand people.
Aobai was not interested in this and did not even look at the county town. Ten thousand cavalrymen, with a biting cold wind, swept past the city and headed towards Lai'an County in the west.
The scene of thousands of horses galloping was so majestic and overwhelming that the earth was shaking constantly. The dull bombardment sound could be heard twenty or thirty miles away. The people along the way fled in terror. Fortunately, Aobai did not bother to slow down the speed of their horses and turned a blind eye.
Aobai was tired from running, and when he was resting in Shiliang Town, west of Tianchang County, a "refugee" who came with Xia Chengde to the south came to him and reported: "General Aobai, Qin General Su Jin is coming from the direction of Yangzhou with 8,000 cavalrymen. He has probably arrived in Lai'an and is probably going to Chuzhou."
Aobai had fought for many years and made great achievements. He was a big and strong man who could grab clouds and rocks, move mountains and lift tripods. He was extremely brave and was known as "the bravest warrior in Manchuria."
Hearing the news about Su Jin's 8,000 cavalry, he did not panic at all, but asked murderously: "Where is Qin Mu? Is Qin Mu still in Chuzhou?"
"General, Qin Mu is still in Chuzhou."
"That's all." Aobai replied nonchalantly.
As long as Qin Mu is still in Chuzhou, everything will be easy. Even if there are 8,000 cavalrymen, or even 10,000, what does it matter
In the field battle, Abahai firmly believed that a single charge of his 10,000-strong army could crush the enemy.
In order to prevent Qin Mu from escaping back to Jinling upon hearing the news, after the army rested for an hour, Aobai ordered his troops to set off again and continue rushing towards Chuzhou. This time he was determined to win.
In Chuzhou City, Su Jin, who had just arrived, went straight to the courtyard where Qin Mu was staying. As soon as he saw him, he bowed and said, "King Qin, there is news from the front that Aobai has passed Tianchang, and Duoduo has also crossed the Huai River and headed south. The plan to lure the enemy has been successful. The ministers in the court ask King Qin to return to the capital immediately."
Niu Wanshan, Li Shi and others also bowed down and requested in unison: "Please ask the King of Qin to revolt against the capital immediately!"
"Please ask the King of Qin to revolt against the capital immediately!"
"Please ask the King of Qin to revolt against the capital immediately!"
Qin Mu pressed the hilt of his sword and said in a deep voice, "Why are you yelling? Get up, everyone. Do you think this is a success? If I return to the capital now, the Qing army is not stupid and will immediately know that it is a trick. They are all cavalry and can retreat to Fengyang in one day. What can you do?"
Su Jin said in a hurry: "King Qin, please bring your personal guards and disguise yourself to conceal your whereabouts. King Qin, Aobai will soon arrive in Lai'an. It will be too late if we don't leave now. Please set off immediately."
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ps: Thanks to Potato Winnie for the reward, thank you very much.
Since June, the number of member clicks per day has been less than 100, and the number of subscriptions is bleak. Winnie's reward is a consolation for me.
I’m afraid the income from this month’s royalties is not even enough for my living expenses. To be honest, I don’t even know how long I can hold on. After all, I have to survive before I can continue writing. Alas!
.(To be continued..)
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