Shangpei, this is a small place that was inconspicuous in the past, but now it is the place where Zhu Yicheng's army is stationed.

After passing Shangpei, directly to the north is Jinling, and east is Changzhou. At this time, Zhu Yicheng was carrying out the final gathering of troops in Shangpei and was considering what to do next.

"Su Song's Qing army showed no signs of returning?"

Zhuang Yan nodded and said, "According to the news that Asu was defeated, Gali ordered Su Song's troops to return to Jinling. But for some reason, Su Song's Qing army showed no signs of returning to the army these two days, and Bei Zhi also found it strange."

Zhu Yicheng walked to the sand table beside him and frowned at the huge sand table in front of him. This sand table was made by the General Staff based on the terrain of Zhejiang, Jiangsu to Jinling. Although it is not as true as the sand table in later generations, it is now much more detailed than the map. And according to Zhu Yicheng's requirements, such sand tables are still being improved and expanded.

On the sand table, the positions and military arrangements of the enemy and our troops were clearly marked. After Asu's troops were annihilated, there are now more than 10,000 troops in Jinling. Su Song's Qing army was about 30,000 troops, while the Ming army left nearly 10,000 troops in Hangzhou and the navy. The total military strength and civilians in Shangpei were more than 43,000. The total strength not only did not decrease, but increased a lot. This was mainly because the battle in Hangzhou did not go through too long and the personnel losses were relatively small. In addition, after taking Hangzhou, He Xianzu and Zeng Tianci led the way, the recruitment of the Hangzhou Green Camp and the temporary soldiers was relatively smooth.

In addition, the Ming army also had nearly 20,000 troops from Dong Dashan and Pan Boss' Chongming Navy in the Susong area. If the rebel forces in Susong were calculated, the forces of Susong Ming army could exceed 40,000.

According to this calculation, the total strength of the Ming army is now as high as 100,000, while the Qing army's strength in Susong and Jinling is less than 50,000. The military strength comparison between the two sides is 2 to 1. However, when fighting, it cannot be simply calculated based on the number of troops. If this is the case, everyone pulls out the team and counts the heads, and the side with fewer heads can directly admit defeat.

Although the Qing army lost Hangzhou and the Asu troops supporting Hangzhou were eliminated, the total strength of the Qing army from Jinling to Susong was less than 50,000, but in terms of combat effectiveness, these Qing troops were not weak. In addition, the Qing army currently relied on defense and relied on a solid city to defend. If all these forces were withdrawn back to Jinling, with the strength of Jinling City, Zhu Yicheng's 100,000 troops in his hands were not sure of trying to break through Jinling.

In addition, the Qing army continued to transfer troops south in Jiangbei. It was heard that the Qing army's green camps in Shandong and Zhili had moved south one after another. In addition, Jinling is a huge city in Jiangnan with a large population. If the Qing army recruited young and strong troops in the city, it would not be too difficult to gather nearly 10,000 people.

"What is Shi Yide's plan? Are he going to send troops to cut off my retreat while our army attacked Jinling?" A young staff officer couldn't help but say. As soon as he opened his mouth, Zhuang Yan swept him with a stern look, and the young officer immediately closed his mouth.

"It's okay, the orphan of the General Staff Department said before that the staff officers and staff participated in the military and made contributions to planning. The so-called plan for one person is short and the two are the chiefs. Everyone comes to see if the person is innocent and tell me what the Qing army is selling.”

Zhu Yicheng smiled at Zhuang Yan. Zhuang Yan was quite conscientious in serving as the chief of staff. However, because he had been in the Qing army for a long time and the establishment of the General Staff was a new thing, there were still some shortcomings in some aspects, but it didn't matter. As long as the general direction was correct, the details could be made up for it little by little.

"Thank you, the sergeant!" The young staff member who spoke without permission just now was a person Zhuang Yan was more optimistic, for fear that he would annoy Zhu Yicheng without distinguishing the occasion. Who would have thought that Zhu Yicheng did not blame him, but encouraged everyone to express his opinions. This made Zhu Yan feel relieved, and at the same time, he admired Zhu Yicheng's generosity and mind.

With Zhu Yicheng's approval, the staff members present immediately discussed it one by one. Some people agreed with the staff opinion that they spoke at first, believing that Shi Yide was preparing to take advantage of the Ming army's north to attack Jinling and then send troops to cut off the Ming army's retreat. However, some people think that perhaps the Qing army in Jiangbei had gone south in large numbers, and Jinling re-adjusted the troops' force, but we don't know the news for the time being. Some people think that the Qing army may have other plans to do this, but they can't guess the other party's idea for a while...

In fact, what these staff members said was similar to what Zhu Yicheng thought. Although Shi Yide had suffered a crushing defeat at the Ming army before, this man was not an incompetent person. On the contrary, he still had certain abilities. Besides, after he was conceited and defeated the Ming army, he later regrouped. In the past few months, he attacked and defended each other in Susong and Dong Dashan's troops, and basically stabilized Susong's front. In some battles, Dong Dashan even suffered some small losses at the hands of Shi Yide, which was enough to show his ability.

Such a veteran, under the current circumstances, could not be unaware of the situation between the two sides. Moreover, Zhu Yicheng's army is no longer a secret matter in Shangpei. Since the annihilation of Asu's troops, the Ming army's attempt to attack Jinling in the north has been put on the situation. With Shi Yide's eyes, it is impossible to see it.

Since that's the case, why did Shi Yide stop moving? Don't he know the consequences of the Ming army taking down Jinling? Or is it true that the young staff member said to cut off the Ming army's retreat? But don't forget that Su Song and Dong Dashan's troops are there, so Shi Yide is not afraid that he will be cut off from the rear and will be attacked from the north and south?

Shaking his head, Zhu Yicheng was not sure what he sold for a moment. At this time, another staff officer said, "This is really strange. Is Shi Yide planning to guard Su Song and Jinling together? But if he does this, he is not afraid that he can't hold on both ends?"

"Huh!" Zhu Yicheng was stunned, and Zhuang Yan, who was beside him, was also thinking, but after thinking about it carefully, they laughed silently, feeling that this possibility seemed unlikely. In the current situation, if Shi Yide really planned this way, he would be a mediocre person. He wanted to have both Yu and Xiong Paw. Where did such a good thing happen in the world?

The army cannot stay in Shangpei for a long time. Now that the troops are gathering, if the Shangpei hesitates, they will fall into a passive position. Zhuang Yan immediately asked his staff to lead the staff to deduce the possible situation, including the situation where Su Song and the Qing army might send troops to cut off the Ming army's retreat after the Ming army heading north to Jinling to ensure the progress of the entire strategy.

After the deduction results came out, Zhu Yicheng nodded with satisfaction and determined the strategic goal of continuing to go north to Jinling. At the same time, Su Song's Dong Dashan tribe launched an attack on the Qing army in Suzhou to restrain the countermeasures. Once the other party has any abnormal movement, it must be firmly bitten.
Chapter completed!