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Today, the Yellow River does not flow into the sea from Shandong. Instead, it turns southeast from Yifeng, east of Kaifeng, flows through Kaocheng, Shangqiu, Dangshan, Xuzhou, Suqian, and flows into Hongze Lake, and then takes the lower reaches of the Huaihe River to the sea.
May and June are the seasons when the water volume of the Yellow River is relatively abundant. If it bursts its dike near Kaifeng, hundreds of counties downstream will become swamps, and countless people will become floating corpses and rot.
At present, the main force of the Qin army in the east is concentrated in Xuzhou, preparing to attack along the Yellow River. In this way, the army's food and grass can be transported by water, greatly reducing the pressure on logistics.
Under such circumstances, if the Qing army calculated the right moment to breach the dam, the Eastern Army would most likely be wiped out.
Outside the city of Xuzhou, the Qin army set up camps for ten miles, with soldiers and horses like clouds and their momentum as vast as the sea.
The Qin army, from top to bottom, was still unaware of the conspiracy that Dorgon had planned in Yanjing. In the tent of Meng Ke, the commander-in-chief of the vanguard army, a large number of generals including Su Jin, Hui Dengxiang, Jin Shenghuan, Hao Yaoqi, Hu Shouliang, Guo Yunlong, Yan Yingyuan, Qin Zuoming, and Qin Zuoming gathered and were making the final deployment before the troops.
In fact, the 160,000 Eastern Army was divided into three groups:
Meng Ke's main force of 100,000 troops advanced northward from Xuzhou;
An army of 30,000 led by Huo Sheng and Li Chen as deputy marched north from Fengyang.
A 30,000-man army led by Li Guo and led by Xiang Liancheng marched north from Shouzhou;
Meng Ke's main force was mainly seeking a decisive battle with Duoduo; Li Guo and Huo Sheng cooperated with each other and were mainly responsible for sweeping Huaibei.
Meng Ke, wearing armor with mountain patterns and a resolute look on his face, said to his generals: "The King of Qin has arrived in Huai'an. Although he has not issued an edict to urge us, the Northern Expedition is urgent. Although the preparations were a bit hasty, the Qing army also responded hastily, and no one can shirk their responsibilities on this basis.
According to intelligence from the front, Duoduo has moved his main force to Shangqiu City. Apparently, Duoduo has anticipated that our army will advance along the Yellow River, and is ready to use Shangqiu City to dampen the morale of our army. The first battle is crucial, and will affect the morale of the entire Northern Expedition, so we must win if we do not fight."
All the generals said in unison: "Please give the order, Grand Commander!"
"Hao Yaoqi."
"I will be here!"
"I order you to lead 10,000 troops as the vanguard, destroy the camps and strongholds, clear the obstacles for the army to advance north, and march straight to Shangqiu."
"I obey your command."
"Su Jin."
"I will be here in the end."
"I order you to lead 10,000 cavalry to cover the left wing of the army and be ready to support the vanguard army at any time."
"I obey your command."
"Everyone else, control the soldiers under your command. Anyone who tramples on crops, rapes or plunders will be killed! Now, everyone return to the camp. You will cook at 4am tomorrow morning and set out at 5am. There must be no delay."
“Yes!”
The generals walked out of the central army tent quickly, and galloped away with their own soldiers. For a moment, the iron hooves clashed, the wind and thunder roared, and each camp and camp began to prepare nervously.
The next morning, outside the city of Xuzhou, drums and gongs sounded, thousands of horses whistled, and voices of people surged. A hundred thousand troops quickly set up camp and marched towards Shangqiu. The curtain of the Northern Expedition was officially opened.
In Fengyang, Huo Sheng and Li Chen's 30,000 troops crossed the Huai River on the same day and advanced northward.
In Shouzhou, Li Guo, Xiang Liancheng and Hou Chang also led an army of 30,000 troops across Bagua Mountain and responded to Huo Sheng's troops, heading towards Bozhou.
***
During the Ming Dynasty, Huai'an entered its heyday as it controlled the transport of grain, salt, river works, customs, and postal services. It was known as one of the "Four Metropolises" along the canal along with Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Hangzhou.
After the Qin army captured Xuzhou, Huai'an was no longer directly threatened by the Qing army, and with its important geographical location, it quickly prospered.
Because the coastal counties east of Huai'an were the production areas of Huai salt, the Qin Dynasty had re-established the Salt Transport Office in Huai'an. Salt production was first restored, which further promoted the prosperity of Huai'an.
This time, Qin Mu's imperial chariot stopped in Huai'an, precisely because of Huai'an's hub location;
Shaohu Garden by the canal was originally a garden with pavilions and picturesque scenery. At this moment, it was guarded by the imperial guards and no one was allowed to approach. In front of the garden, soldiers and horses were marching and messengers were arriving frequently, making it a very busy place.
In the cabinet, except Lu Zhenfei who stayed in Nanjing, Sima An and Li Yuan both followed him to Huai'an. In addition, the assistant ministers of the six ministries, the Censorate, the Dali Temple, the Imperial Household Department, etc., almost every department had officials accompanying him.
It can be said that the central decision-making bodies of the Qin Dynasty have been temporarily moved to Huai'an.
The reason for this is that this time, the Northern Dynasty is not just a military matter. According to Qin Mu's request, once a place is conquered, it is necessary to quickly take over the governance, appease the people, provide relief to refugees, and restore order.
In fact, for a city, war is mainly about the battle for city walls and gates, and the damage to the interior of the city is not great during the war. The biggest damage to the city is the disorder after the war.
The army must concentrate on dealing with the enemy, and most of the military are rough and unskilled, so they are not suitable for restoring order. Then it is necessary for civilian officials to quickly take over and restore order to avoid a long-term state of disorder after the war, which will lead to more serious damage to the local area.
There were so many things involved that Qin Mu, Sima An and others were already very busy before the first battle started. In the lobby of the front yard, Yang Chao, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, said, "King Qin, Zhenjiang still has 30,000 shi of military grain that cannot be shipped. There are not enough grain ships, so we need to requisition civilian merchant ships."
Qin Mu asked: "How many ships do we need to requisition?"
"At least two hundred ships must be requisitioned."
The government wanted to requisition a large amount of civilian supplies, which required Qin Mu's approval. Qin Mu quickly wrote his approval on the memorial submitted by Yang Chao, and then asked, "How are the grain prices in various places now?"
"Reporting to the King of Qin, in the capital area, the price of one stone of rice has risen to two taels and three cents. Some grain merchants took the opportunity to hoard grain and drive up the price, causing it to soar rapidly."
Qin Mu, Sima An and others couldn't help but frown when they heard this. It was normal for the grain price in Qin to rise as a large amount of grain would be collected in the Northern Expedition. However, one stone of rice now cost one or two taels of silver more than before, and this increase still gave Qin Mu a headache.
Now some places in the south have started the summer harvest, but there is still some time before the actual sale of summer grain. In addition, it is common for illegal businessmen to make money from the war. Although the court tries its best to crack down on those grain merchants, it is impossible to completely eliminate them.
In other words, one dou of rice is now equivalent to one qian of silver. Don't underestimate this qian of silver. It is equivalent to one hundred coins in Daqin treasure notes.
Originally, a dou of rice cost only 120 wen, but now it has doubled. For many lower-class households, this is a very heavy burden, and many people who could have eaten well will have to starve.
Qin Mu couldn't help but think of Luzon again. He really wanted to send the navy to attack Luzon immediately and plunder all the food in Luzon.
Sima An said: "King of Qin, the summer grain harvest in Changsha and Fujian is relatively early. I think it is necessary to dispatch more ships and go to these places immediately to buy grain to stabilize the soaring grain prices."
"Well, let the Ministry of Revenue draft a charter."
"Report, King Qin, Commander Meng's army has already set out from Xuzhou. In Fengyang, General Huo has advanced 200 miles without encountering any resistance from the Qing army."
The information brought back by the messenger made Qin Mu turn his attention back to the war, and the Northern Expedition truly began.
Qin Mu and his men did not interfere with specific tactics, but they had to analyze the overall strategic intentions of the Qing army at any time in order to coordinate the various northern expedition armies in a targeted manner.
Li Yuan pondered and said, "It seems that the Qing army will not compete with our army for the gains and losses of a city or a pond. King Qin, I think that the Qing army is likely to use depth to buy time and delay the decisive battle with our army as much as possible. Therefore, the original prediction that there will be a hard battle in Shangqiu City may not be the case."
Jiang Yihan, the head of the Ministry of War, said, "That's good too. The more he retreats, the more cities we can easily take over. As long as our army advances steadily, we can advance to Kaifeng in about ten days. Then we'll see if he decides to fight or not. If he doesn't, it means we'll give up the land south of the Yellow River."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Qin Mu tapped the table with his fingers and said thoughtfully, "I always feel that we have missed something."
"What does the King of Qin mean?"
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "I don't know what exactly has been missed." Qin Mu hoped that he was just worrying too much, but he always had a feeling that he had missed some key factor.
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ps: Tiger is already close to 200 votes today, so strong, I am beginning to get scared. Can I keep the sixth place? Ah! I am counting on you brothers, please vote for your monthly tickets, the Northern Expedition has officially begun, please encourage me, please vote for me!
.(To be continued..)
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