Chen Longzheng opened his mouth but found that he had nothing to say.
That's right, it was the same logic. Regardless of whether these people could recover Nanjing and Zhenjiang, as long as they did not destroy Jiang Dahai's navy, Jiang Dahai could cut off the Jinghang Canal at any time, and their food supply would never be stable.
Not to mention that Chen Lin and Li Wenyuan in Guangdong were attacking Fujian, Zheng Ying was threatening Zhejiang, Xiao Ruxun's main force was steadily advancing in Huguang, and Sichuan was also winning. The overall situation of the southern battlefield was set. Even if Li Hualong had three heads and six arms, he would not be able to save Jiangnan.
The only thing worth worrying about was that the conflict between Xiao Ruxun and Shen Yicheng was irreconcilable, so the conflict between him and the local gentry in the southeast was also irreconcilable. If these local gentry did not support Xiao Ruxun, it would be difficult for Xiao Ruxun to gain a foothold here. If he wanted to use troops to intimidate them, how many troops would he need?
Chen Longzheng had reminded Xiao Ruxun to introduce some conciliatory policies to appease the people, but Xiao Ruxun said that he had other methods and asked Chen Longzheng not to worry. Chen Longzheng also did not know what Xiao Ruxun was planning.
There was also the person Xiao Ruxun had recently recruited to work for him, the poor scholar named Xie He. He did not look like a good person, and Chen Longzheng did not like him. However, he seemed to be very close to Xiao Ruxun and often talked to Xiao Ruxun, which made Chen Longzheng a little puzzled.
Chen Longzheng could not understand Xiao Ruxun's recent actions.
But there was no doubt that everything was developing in the direction of their side.
On the 17th day of the ninth month, Li Hualong led the main force of the imperial court's army to the Yangzhou Prefecture. Li Hualong's goal was to lift the siege of Yangzhou City.
Li Hualong sent his spies to find out that the Zhennan Army's force attacking Yangzhou was only about ten thousand, hence he had the idea of completely annihilating the enemy in one battle. Thereupon he ordered the main force under his command to divide into two groups to outflank the Zhennan Army's retreat, while the three thousand cavalry vanguard was responsible for charging into the enemy's formation, entangling the Zhennan Army's marines, preventing them from boarding the ships and escaping.
Unexpectedly, the Zhennan Army seemed to have prepared for this. With the warships at their back, they lined up in a great formation to fight against the cavalrymen of Ji Town. Bows, crossbows, muskets, muskets, and cannons were fired at the same time. After a round of indiscriminate bombardment, the cavalrymen of Ji Town were forced to flee in panic.
As a result, before Li Hualong's main force arrived, all the Marines boarded the ship and returned to Zhenjiang Prefecture along the canal.
The Zhennan Army had been attacking the Yangzhou Prefecture for more than ten days, yet they failed to capture it. On the other hand, after Li Hualong led his main force here, they retreated in a hasty battle. Although the cavalrymen of Ji Town suffered a crushing defeat in the first battle, losing five to six hundred men and horses, the Zhennan Army still retreated.
It seemed that Li Hualong had won a battle and lifted the siege of Yangzhou. The magistrate of Yangzhou led a group of officials out of the city to welcome Li Hualong, singing his praises. However, Li Hualong had a feeling that the situation was not as simple as it seemed.
"Bastard!!"
Li Hualong slammed a leaflet containing the declaration of the Zhennan Army's northern expedition on the table and said, "How many of these things are there in the entire city? Find them all and burn them! This is simply a rebellion! "
Li Hualong was very annoyed by the declaration, which was severely worded and indiscriminately bombarded Shen Yicheng, and stated that it did not recognize the young Emperor of Taichang. Not to mention that the declaration was written in a literary style, and it was clearly written by a scholar. Apparently, the person who wrote it was not some ordinary person.
He actually had fans, and he was even a scholar! A dignified disciple of a Sage actually colluded with a mere general. This was simply a disgrace to the scholars! He was not worthy of being a disciple of a Sage!
The magistrate of Yangzhou hurriedly agreed and immediately ordered someone to carry out the task. He then asked, "How does Supervisor plan to defeat the enemy?"
Li Hualong took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
"Defeating the enemy is not difficult. The difficult thing is how to eliminate all the rebels. There is more than one group of rebels. It is said that there are rebels in Ningbo, in Yunnan, and in Guangxi. Those are the main forces of the traitor Xiao!"
The magistrate of Yangzhou swallowed his saliva.
"Supervisor, could it be that the traitor Xiao is still alive? How did he escape from the capital? "
Li Hualong glared at the magistrate of Yangzhou and said, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask. I still want to know the reason! A mere general actually caused such a huge commotion! One can imagine how lax the military preparations of the entire Jiangnan are! Let me ask you, how much do you know about the rebels on the other side of the river? "
The magistrate of Yangzhou wiped the cold sweat off his face.
"This … There are indeed many people sent to gather information, but only a few returned. The scattered information is that this group of people is a navy. There are about a few hundred warships, and they cover the sky on the river. The scale is really huge, and we can only defend. There is no way we can fight our way through.
Their firearms are especially sharp and there are many of them. Whether it's the infantry on the road or the ships, they all have a large number of firearms. We always suffer a lot. Some of the defensive facilities on the north bank have been destroyed by their firearms. "
Li Hualong's expression was very bad.
"That's all you know? You don't even know the identity of the rebels and the name of the commander? "
"The commander is said to be called Jiang Dahai. I have no idea where he is from or where he suddenly appeared from. Supervisor, this lowly official … this lowly official …"
"Enough!"
Li Hualong angrily shouted, "What's the use of having you!"
After saying that, Li Hualong stood up.
"Supervisor?"
"I will personally check the enemy's intelligence!"
Li Hualong decided to do it himself. Rather than waiting for this group of people to find out information, it was better to wait for the other party to give him his weakness.
Li Hualong left Yangzhou Prefecture with a cavalry unit and went south along the canal to check the situation. At the same time, he set up sentry posts and alarm points along the canal. He was prepared to react faster and prepare for battle once the Zhennan Army Navy went north.
At the same time, in Li Hualong's camp, Chai Guozhu was sighing alone in his tent.
Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that the enemy he was facing was actually Xiao Ruxun's Southern Town Army, and never would he have imagined that Li Hualong would tell him that Xiao Ruxun wasn't dead, but had escaped instead.
So before, Shen Yicheng was bluffing. Xiao Ruxun did not die, and his coup did not succeed. Now, Xiao Ruxun fought back.
Chai Guozhu knew how powerful Xiao Ruxun was, and he didn't want to be enemies with her. But now, he was riding a tiger and couldn't back down. He basically had no other choice. Before he could think of a good solution, Li Zhenbing had already gone to the frontline and was about to face the Southern Army.
He was now a little envious that Li Rusong had such a powerful father as Li Chengliang.
Li Rusong did not come with the excuse that there was a Jurchen invasion in Liaodong, and he stupidly brought his main force. There was no doubt that he would be the biggest loser.
Previously, Liu Guoxiang took away his most elite cavalry unit, saying that they were going to attack Nanjing. But in Chai Guozhu's view, how could they win with just a few thousand people?
His cavalry, who had fought with the Zhennan Army in a hurry, suffered a big loss in front of the Zhennan Army's artillery and guns. They were beaten and fled, and could only watch as the Zhennan Army boarded the warships and left the battlefield. But on his side, he still had to continue to lose a lot of soldiers and horses that he did not need to lose.
More importantly, Chai Guozhu did not want to be enemies with Xiao Ruxun at all!
If he knew, he would definitely use the Mongolian invasion as an excuse and directly lead his troops to the north to patrol the border. He would not lead his troops to the south and make such unnecessary sacrifices in a place like Yangzhou Prefecture.
This was really bad …
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