Dominate the Country

Chen Ming had already sent cavalry to monitor the two northwest gates of Huai'an City. If there was a fire in the city and the Qing army or civilians escaped from the two northwest gates, then this battle would be easier to fight.

Unfortunately, God didn't give him face. Most of the prepared incendiary bombs had been fired, but there was no wind.

"Send a message to Huang Jie, the third brigade will test the city."

Chen Ming looked at the sky above his head. The sun was shining brightly, and there was no wind at all. It was strange. Since God didn't give him face, the Fu Han army would have to work harder.

Huai'an South City, at this moment, the foot of the inner city wall became the best place in the world, especially the barracks built against the wall, which were full of Qing soldiers. Even the hiding caves were not as safe as this place.

The two Qing army generals stationed at the South Gate, one is the general of Caozhou Town in Shandong, and the other is Zheng Guorui of Huaiyang Town in northern Jiangsu. At this time, they were also in the barracks under the inner city wall, listening to the sound of artillery outside, the screams and noises in the city. The morale and fighting spirit in the hearts of the two people, like a punctured balloon, deflated little by little.

"Brother is a military scholar in the tenth year of Qianlong. I have been in the army for more than 20 years, and I have never heard of such fierce artillery fire..." Zheng Guorui's face was already somewhat depressed. How can he fight this? Even if the soldiers and horses of Huaiyang Town are weak, there are still some people who dare to risk their lives and are loyal to the country. But how can human flesh and blood compete with artillery shells?

Arsuna was expressionless, because he didn't know how to speak, and didn't know whether to reprimand Zheng Guorui's words or agree with him. The soldiers of Caozhou, Shandong are stronger than the Green Camp in Huaiyang, but aren't they also running and hiding under the rain of artillery shells?

The atmosphere in the barracks was as quiet as death. The two big guys were silent, and the remaining personal soldiers and Goshha kept their mouths shut. Until an urgent report came from outside: "My two lords, the rebels are driving the prisoners to fill the river..."

Huang Jie outside the South Gate received Chen Ming's order and waved his hand. The soldiers of the Third Brigade on the front line drove a large group of prisoners carrying mud bags, pushing heavy shield carts and Hao Bridges, and rushed towards the South Gate of Huainan like a flood.

The Fu Han Army had a promise that each person would carry five bags of mud and sand, or push a shield cart or Hao Bridge, and their mission would be over. And with the red and black bamboo sticks issued by the Fu Han Army [the red ones are mud bags, the black ones are carts], they can use these things to exchange for extra food in the prisoner-of-war camp. A red skewer could be exchanged for a 4-liang steamed bun, a black skewer could be exchanged for a fish, or a meat bun with fat slices as big as an adult's palm and as thick as a finger. For people of this era, it was definitely a good thing.

In addition, these prisoners of war also saw how badly the defenders of the southern city wall were beaten by the cannons of the Fu Han Army. They were not too afraid, and there were rewards in front of them, so their morale was not too low. Some people even thought about whether to take advantage of the great opportunity to move more, which was an extra benefit. So, as soon as the third brigade issued an order, the prisoners of war rushed down.

The Qing army in the south of the city tried their best to avoid artillery shells and put out fires, and on the other hand, they did not relax their vigilance against the southern city wall. When the prisoners of war ran to the city with sandbags on their backs, shield carts and Haoqiao, the news was immediately reported to the two generals.

As a bannerman, Arsuna still had the courage to climb the city, and immediately pointed to the town flag to climb the city.

"Commander-in-chief, the Qing soldiers are coming up, the Qing soldiers are climbing the city..."

On the artillery position, Huang Jingting heard the shouting of the messenger. The sound of the artillery was rumbling, and if your voice was too low, no one would be able to hear it. "Pass my order, fire five rounds at the city wall--"

Anyway, the people filling the river were all prisoners of war. If they were really unlucky and were killed by artillery shells, it would be their bad luck. Huang Jingting paid more attention to the killing of the Qing army. What a good opportunity.

Arsuna bravely climbed the top of the city with the town flag, and Arsuna and his town flag were heroically annihilated by the rain of bullets of the Fu Han Army...

Zheng Guorui under the city turned pale.

The difference in firepower between the two sides was the distance between heaven and earth. When the Fu Han Army did not care about the lives of the prisoners of war, it always kept bombarding the southern city wall, and Li Shiyao in the Governor's Office of the Canal Transport could not sit still.

Underground sieges are not a rare tactic. The Fu Han Army in Jiangnan bullies people with firepower. Except for the battle in Nanjing, they did so in other places. But Gaopingshan in Anhui is different. Among the territories of the expeditionary army, Anqing was not under much pressure at the beginning, but as the Qing Dynasty officially implemented the policy of local militia, Gaopingshan gradually felt the pressure. In order to break the rising momentum of the Qing army, Gaopingshan launched a counterattack against Hefei. Although he had to retreat when the front reached Feixi, Lujiang and Shucheng were all taken by the Second Brigade. Gaopingshan used underground sieges, digging holes directly at the foot of the city wall and filling them with a large amount of gunpowder. The walls of Lujiang and Shucheng were blown up by the Second Brigade.

Li Shiyao is very clear about this tactic. If the defenders retreat from the city wall now, they will just wait for the Fu Han Army to blow up the city wall.

"Report to the governor, the governor has issued a military order..."

At the South Gate, Zheng Guorui's face turned black after reading the handwritten letter from Li Shiyao. We must fight for every inch of land at the South Gate, for your old turtle's head! "Pala..." All the teacups at hand were swept away. "What can I fight for?" The lives of my soldiers? With the previous experience of Arsuna, who would be willing to go to the top of the city? Forcing soldiers to die would cause chaos.

Zheng Guorui was like a wounded beast forced into a desperate situation, turning around and around in the barracks, and suddenly he stopped. The soldiers are in chaos. Yes, I can't force the soldiers in Huaiyang Town to die, but I can make my soldiers in chaos. Doesn't this solve everything? Even if he is blamed after the war, he cannot be sentenced to death...

"This trick of suppressing the platform is clever enough. But the students think that they can also beggar their neighbors and divert the disaster eastward..." The staff beside Zheng Guorui pointed to a place not far away, where was Caozhou Town, where the commander-in-chief had just died. The main army is in confusion. If the gossip spreads that they are still required to defend the southern city wall and fight for every inch of land, the people in Caozhou Town will collapse. If Huaiyang Town collapses together, it will be a much smaller crime. The most important thing is that the commander-in-chief of Caozhou Town has been killed in battle.

"Wonderful, wonderful." This plan is brilliant. Zheng Guorui clapped his hands in praise, and then immediately ordered: "Hurry up and do it!"

…

The fighting in Huai'an City was in full swing, and Yancheng, two hundred miles away, was also in full swing.

After the Fuhan Army arrived here, they first recruited refugees and canal workers, and then exchanged large amounts of grain for labor. They wiped out the local salt warehouses, and bags after bags of salt were brought back by the Fuhan Army. To the south. In the past, these things were all real gold and silver, much more valuable than food. But now, food can save lives, and salt is just salt.

Now outside Yancheng, a dense crowd of refugees gathered at the entrances of simple camps outside the city, waiting for the soup from the soldiers who stayed behind to restore the Han Dynasty. Many of the refugees here even came all the way from Haizhou on the north side of the Yellow River.

Without the food brought by the Grand Canal, continuous wars and droughts, northern Jiangsu will be really miserable this year.

At the entrance of a camp, a dozen Fuhan Army logistics soldiers and thirty or forty refugees had set up ten large pots and cooked grain porridge under a simple shack at the entrance of the camp. As soon as the aroma came out, the crowd became commotion. However, a large group of Fuhan Army logistics soldiers outside the city maintained order, and the Fuhan Army's continuous feeding of porridge these days also gave these refugees some trust, so order was not chaotic.

There were also some Subei people recruited from the refugees by the Fuhan Army, wearing yellow and red vests, walking around among the crowd, asking the refugees to line up in order with a gentle tone. The attitudes of these people are friendly and not harsh, and they all have accents from northern Jiangsu. They were even among the refugees a few days ago, so they were very accepted by these refugees.

Tens of thousands of refugees gathered around Yancheng, and they were divided into four large parts by the Fuhan Army, represented by four gates. These people are not engaged in production. They are old and young, and there are many who bring the old and the young. They consume more than 500 shi of food every day. The Fuhan Army raised them just to win people's hearts. Many of these people were unlikely to follow the Fuhan Army, but they overcame this difficulty. Whether they stayed in Yancheng or returned to their hometown, they could spread the Fuhan Army. The reputation of the Han army. That's enough!

The most important point is that the Fuhan Army is not short of food at all. If the Fuhan Army disperses all the food it has retrieved from Jiangnan for disaster relief, it is estimated that the order in northern Jiangsu and Jiangnan will be restored to normal immediately. And what's the use of Chen Ming holding more than a million dans of grain in his hands?

Now that Fujian is in chaos, it seems that the Fuhan Army will have no problem establishing a foothold in Nanjing in the short term, but does it really need to stay in Nanjing all the time? This place is too far away from the Fuhan Army's base. Compared with Nanjing, Chen Ming was more willing to seize Hubei, capture Hanzhong, cut off the exit from northern Sichuan, and expand the territory of the Fuhan Army - territory that he had control over.

When Chen Ming's army went straight to the south of the Yangtze River, he was not prepared to stay in Nanjing. At that time, he wanted to smash the money bags of the Qing Dynasty. Chen Ming never expected that the situation could develop so well now. But that doesn't make him change his original intention!

Chen Ming had been planning to annihilate the Manchu and Qing forces as much as possible in the south of the Yangtze River, annihilate the Manchu and Qing mobile forces, and then return to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River to conquer Hubei Province, and then seize Hanzhong, where there is saltpeter, and it is also the only border between Sichuan and Shaanxi. The passage place.

As for Jiangnan, the Fuhan Army only needs to protect Jiujiang, Hukou, and Anqing, and then it will have a bridgehead for the Fuhan Army. When the Fuhan Army is strong enough, won't Chen Ming be able to capture Jiangnan for the second time? At the very least, we must protect Hukou and Jiujiang. If Anqing really can't hold it, we won't.

Therefore, too much food was of little use to the Fuhan Army. Will Hubei still be short of food? That was the great granary of the Qing Dynasty.